Winter: Another Indonesian maid who didn't pay attention when SIP was conducted.... or is it SIP didn't teach them? Maid thought she can do amazing stunts without endangering her live? Finger pointing is on employer again!Locked door led to Indonesian maid's fatal fall, Straits Times, 10 Jun 2016A maid's "foolhardy effort" to re-enter a locked room via the balcony of a 15th floor condominium ended in tragedy when she fell to her death, a coroner's court heard.Ruling out foul play, State Coroner Marvin Bay found that Indonesian Sriyati had either slipped or missed a step. He found that the 29-year-old had succeeded in opening the window of the room, but fell before she could get through it to enter the room - which was 1.16m away. This case exemplifies the need for employers to keep their helper apprised of where keys are kept for use, in the case of an emergency," he said on Wednesday."Helpers should also be counselled never to attempt to re-enter a locked room by climbing through the room's window via a balcony or ledge." Madam Sriyati died at the Ris Grandeur condominium in Elias Road on Dec 17 last year.

The court heard that before her female employer's husband left for work that morning, he gave her $10 to buy food for his two sons, aged 13 and 11, at a nearby food court. The employer was in Kuala Lumpur on a business trip. The boys were in the master bedroom when Madam Sriyati told them she was going to buy food for them.About 20 minutes later, they heard a door slam, but did not think it unusual as it was normal for the doors to slam shut due to strong winds. After that, the younger boy heard Madam Sriyati cry out, but the older boy had headphones on and heard nothing. It was some time later that they realised she was missing. The house keys were still on the table.Madam Sriyati's body was found on a grass patch near some bushes about 2m from the block. After the boys' father had rushed home, he used a key in a display cabinet to unlock the room door. The coroner said Madam Sriyati's employer conceded that she might not have known that the key to unlock the door was in the cabinet.Investigations found that the window of the room was open, and there were some black prints on the window and window panel. A plastic chair had been placed at the corner of the balcony and a flower pot had been moved.The court heard that Madam Sriyati had never complained of any problems nor expressed any intention to end her life during her nine-month employment with the household. The coroner added: "The investigation showed that upon the room door being locked shut from wind pressure, Madam Sriyati had apparently made a foolhardy effort to try to reach the room from the balcony, presumably to unlock the door."He said Madam Sriyati's accidental fall was a tragic misadventure.

Winter: Killing a baby girl, maid's maximum sentence is 10 years' jail and a fine (not convicted yet). Killing an elderly Socialite, Indonesian maid who was 18 at that time, now 20 was jailed for 18 years. Indonesian maid punching 1-year-old girlon her neck and gripping her neck tightly with all your strength till she died, Straits Times, 10 May 2016An Indonesian maid was on Tuesday (May 10) charged over the death of a toddler in her care. Maryani Usman Utar, 30, had allegedly caused the death of one-year-old Richelle Teo Yan Jia "by punching her on her neck and gripping her neck tightly with all your strength until she stopped crying, with the knowledge that such acts were likely to cause her death".Maryani has been charged with committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder, with the knowledge that her actions were likely to cause death, but without intention to cause death. She allegedly committed the offence between 2am and 7.36am on Sunday (May 8), at Block 225 Simei Street 4. If convicted of the charge, she faces a maximum sentence of 10 years' jail and a fine.Maryani stood expressionless in the dock as an Indonesian interpreter read her charge out to her. District Judge Christopher Goh granted the police prosecutor's request to remand her for a week, with permission to be taken out for investigations. The case will be mentioned again on May 17. Maryani was arrested after Richelle was found unconscious by her father at home on Sunday morning with bruises on her neck and head. The girl's lips had reportedly turned purple, and she was pronounced dead in hospital just after 10am. Maryani was not at home when the toddler was found unconscious as it was her day off, reported Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao. She had reportedly been out since 8am.Police arrested Maryani in the Marina Bay Area later that day. She was taken back to the Housing Board flat by investigators on Monday. She is believed to have worked for the family for more than a year. It was her first job in Singapore.Richelle's family were at the mortuary on Monday to identify her body, reported evening daily Shin Min Daily News. They included her parents, elder brother, aunt and grandparents. Richelle had reportedly celebrated her first birthday just five days before her death.Facebook comments:William Tan -- She murdered the toddler because she just want to silent the toddler so that she can go out for her off day on Sunday. For this selfish act, death sentence need to be applied to stop this incident from repeating.Woo Rina -- 10yrs of her life in an exchange for a lifetime of the bb girl.. just wonder why it's not murder but homicide. What can a 1yo do to her? Even if she's not hanged, a greater sentence of eg 30yrs shld do better.Travis Lin -- She needs to hang. It is quite outrageous that such light sentences are handed out for such heinous crimes, while harsh sentences are given for crimes that would be considered minor infractions or misdemeanors in most first world countries. This is a case of child abuse, reckless endangerment, torture and ultimately, murder. What outcome did she expect from squeezing a 1yr old baby's neck? Even if the maid was mistreated by the employer, it doesn't give her an excuse to kill another humam being. If she has a mental disability that causes an inability to discern right from wrong, then that's even more reason to hang her. She is a menace and danger to society and The People.David Strat Lou -- From 2am to 7.36am??!! So the toddler is sleeping with The Maid not the parents??!! If not the parents would have aware of that...Noor Isliza Magiar -- Parents nowadays just pushed the sleeping hours also to maid. 24 hours

Pearl Zin -- Court should file a case for those irresponsible parent!

Noor Isliza Magiar -- Parents that I knew who pushed their babies and toddlers to maids, said that they needed their beauty sleep. Asked them, then how about the maid? They are not slaves. And I was unfriended in FB. Lol

Candy Rueangsri -- It's like she's working 24/24 that's why she became mad with all the crying , the parents are part responsible , that's sad though. Poor little girl rip

Joanne Wang -- Noor Isliza Magiar agree, but is it a good reason for a maid to kill baby?

Thomas Chong -- How could the family entrust the one-year old infant to a maid? The maid-does-all mentality must stop!

Julian Agung -- If that the case, I have to say, maid its not a robot,, 24/24 awake.... ????? Where the parent resposibility ??

Thomas Chong -- It's a sad case and a tragic loss of an infant who had just arrived in this world for a year. I hope this case will be a reminder for all would-be parents to act more responsibly and take good care of your child.

Ieza Kay Noor -- Isliza Magiar You know what? The exact same thing happened to me! We live in a society where we pay others to look after our old parents and raise our little children after blaming all political parties for giving us a hard life and the rest of us who choose to care for our own parents and children are deemed to be poor and uneducated (that's why cannot go out and work la.. no qualifications so stay home).

Lian Lian -- Employers may need to sleep so to get to work and bring in the dols....and pay the maid. Who knows what happened to the parents that night? Maybe Bad day? Fever? So pls stop pour oil into fire when we kno nothing.U think parents do not like their babies?Nothing warrant killing a human. Whether u r maid or king.

Luffy Cat -- It's a saturday and the child is sleeping with the maid. The maid must have been very tired what with full day work and night too. Sleep & rest deprivation can lead to mental imbalance.

Annie Chan Xue -- I believe we all need to refrain from judging when we do not know what happened. It is easier to judge where we stand. Given the sensitive thoughts for both parties, both have lost. As a parent who have lost a son through natural death, it is heartbreaking. What more for this family. We all have opinions but at this point refrain from judging. Peace out people.

Noor Isliza Magiar -- I used to have maids too. I worked and was heavily pregnant in my third trimester. But, from the beginning, I made a rule. Maids stopped working at 8. I do grocery, I cooked too. She only looks after my toddler then, cook for him and bath him till 8 pm. She gets her rest. Whole day? Only sweep and mopping. Nothing else. Yet, my maid claim stress. Weekend off lagi. Saturdays, I looked after my kid. No matter how tired I was, my child is still my responsibility. They sleep with me and I am the one who makes them sleep. Not maid.

Boy Barry -- The maid killed the baby..not the parents..thats all matters to me.Regardless how irresponsible is the parents,the maid should not do wat she did to the baby.

范添迪 -- This is why maid shouldn't sleep with the infants. Even we as parents can get stressed and angry when our kids are crying non stop in the middle of the night, imagine a stranger left to accompany them, don't know what they can do to make them stop. At least we won't kill our own offsprings.

Kiang Tan -- Parents must looking after that own kid in the night, not the maid, maid must work in the day night time maid go sleep? Singaporeans they have little bit money want to at like big boss...some they not evern have maid befor when come and work with the family they not really treat the maid good maid must work and work not slaves this will give than a lesson Lai Yin Lee -- Kiang Tan it's your own kid. Look after the kid yourself especially at night. Why do parents allow kids to sleep beside maids? When kid sleeps beside the maid, they will get too close.

Fatima Fenequito -- I been working here in sg from 2006 till present...when i came my maam new born was 24days,still had confinement..she and i slept with new born..she taught me wat to do & how to take care specially at night coz my maam had to go back to work aftr her maternity leave, coz i love so much to take care new born, i accept all responsibilities as a mother.then,from 4 mos.to 4 years old i slept with my lovely boy..when he smiled at me, all the tiredness and sleepless night was gone.Today, i ask my self how can i leave this lovely boy behind?(for good)

Karen Francise Tey -- It is unjust to judge when one is not fully aware of the situation. B gracious, thoughtful & considerate to the parents who lost their kid in this case. One will nvr know nor apprehend unless one is in their shoes. I'm adamant that the parents r devastated so b kind to them n let them grieve in peace. Spare them the harshness of the tongues. Who r we to judge...especially when we dnt even know what actually happened..n no matter what, one human being shd nvr kill another human being let alone a young defenseless little one. The law is too lenient to these helpers who kills cos they r too "stressed out" or "unfairly treated". Anyway peace to everyone 😊

SriHaryanti MamanyaTami -- I'm here with my employer already 4 years.when I coming my mam still pragnant,and now the baby is already 4 years old.that time I'm also the same I need to take care new born baby 24 hours and day time I still need to working.im really so stress that time. But now after the baby go to school they ask me to do all the house work even clean the aircorn also.

Daniel Koh -- My son slept with me and wife at night, but come morning we always find son in the toilet.....and my bed is pretty high....so, end up we have to put mattresses and pillows all around our bed. Still he wakes up in the toilet, lol. Perhaps this child wasn't meant to be born. Maid must have went thru too much stress to do such a thing to a newborn.

Lynn Flint-Sung -- Based on my knowledge, it's quite a common practise for parents to leave their baby, toddler and children to sleep with their domestic helper. To say that no one have any right to kill/hurt a defenceless child. It's a very sad tragedy. Btw Iezz Kay, engaging the service of a domestic helper is not an indicator of your social status. How could it be when the family usually need 2 incomes to pay bills and etc? It's a case to case situation and should not be a generalisation here.

James Loh -- Domestic helpers should only do household chores and not look after babies or toddlers. It's ok to outsource household work but it's not ok to outsource caring of your child. Hope prospective and new parents take note of this incident.

Ben Lim -- James Loh shall we not judge parents who need to have others care for their children? there are some people who truly have little choice. infant care centres are hardly any better, but in singapore where both parents work in most families, it is unavoidable fate

Ummul Ammatullah -- There is another possibility. That, all the kids (they have another child right?) sleep in a seperate room, not with the maid. I know its a norm with ang mohs esp, they dont co-sleep with their kids, even as young as a month old baby. Hence, u have the baby monitors abound there. Some trained their kids to sleep on their own, some use the cry-it-out method. This possibility cannot be ruled out until it is confirmed that the kids do sleep with the maid.

Eunice Tan -- Lynn Flint-Sung it is sad that parents leave their children to sleep with helper. Both my husband and I are working parents, already time with kids is so little by time we go back that we find it a joy to put them to bed every night and hug them to sleep. Tiring yes, but that's the price of having kids. No point give birth to kids and just pay money to outsource the caring of kids.

Lynn Flint-Sung -- Eunice Tan - It's sad but unfortunately it's common practise in Sg where children sleep with their domestic helper based on my understanding. I'm in a very lucky situation where I'm a sahm to care for my girl and still have some "me" time where we'll send her to play school in the day for 5 hours so I could rest and relax. Night time it's usually my husband who put her to bed with bedtime stories. During weekends, it's a shared responsibility between us parents. I don't think it's wrong to outsource some helps to lighten the loads being parents. Having a domestic helper, nursery, child minder, grandparents and etc .. these are the resources to help the parents. The issue here is the knowledge of sharing. People tend to overlook or taking stuffs for granted and forget the basic that sharing is caring be it between husband/wife, employer/employee, parents/grandparents .. The "ME ME ME" mentality and self entitlement is usually the downfall in most cases unfortunately.

Ailen Castor Lorca -- I come to my employer my boss younger child 4months old . my madam sleep with her at night .i heard bby crying at nyt i go inside her room and help i carry then bby stop crying now i still working here meimei going 7 yo nxt month .my english poor and not good in house work but becouse i take good care the 3 children my employer treat me like their own sister .nobody can bully me here my boss alwys helping me hehe proud maid here .godbless us.

Lynn Flint-Sung -- If you guys agree to the phrase of "don't give birth if you are unable to look after your own child", you might as well say .. don't get married if you are unable to rely on just 1 income to support the family and paying bills and/or one of you are not able to be a stay at home parent.. Duh!

Rita Noritah -- 2am- 7:36am. That means the child is sleeping with the maid. Its the parents responsibility to atleast take care of the child at night. Maid also need to have a gd sleep every night after a tiring day. Previously, I have a very nice hardworking n trustworthy maid but I never let my children sleep with the maid coz I knew how tired it is after doing those never ending house work + sending fetching kids from sch. My maid works with me for 4yrs b4 she went back coz I migrated. Im happy with her. Up till now been almost 7yr, we still contact each other. Mutual trust responsibility n understanding is very important.

Ayhana Mher Benamir -- Now im coming 5 yrs to my employer. 1st child and 2nd child. I sleep with them at night.i tired to much.and stress. 24 hrs im with them.madam and sir go work every week days. and i do housework.. just patience and hardworking!! And God's guidance everything will be alright!

Tanedo Jeanalyn -- Why this maid do that such a thing to kill the baby... If she cannot handle this kind of job.... She must give up and tell to her employer that she do want to look after...

Dayang Nusa Kambangan -- Im working for france family for 6 years take care 3 kid from monday to friday n the kid no sleep with me but they are sleep alone ,saturday n sunday the kid with my employer so i have free for saturday n sunday

Lim Jong -- Only death sentence can prevent maid murdering children. Sg law is so sweet to maids. Parents are also responsible. They ill treated the maid, the maid ill treated the child.

Carlos Bott -- Every week there are 2 or 3 cases of serious maid abuse in Singapore. Death sentence needs to be given to those abusing maids as well.

Carlos Bott -- Singapore should 'man-up' as a country and join the 1st World. Other than Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Middle East, the rest of the world doesn't use domestic helpers on the scale as Singapore. You deserve what you get by being societally lazy and using maids. Europe, the US and Japan are modern, 1st World societies and we never use maids. So stop using maids. They are not your slaves or indentured servants.

Lim Jong -- Carlos Bott young ladies from the poor countries are able to support their families working as maids. They are not forced to come, but by the time their families are rich enough the ladies miss out on marriage and remain single. They are not slaves, (yes, maybe they are)

Carlos Bott -- They do. But it's usually through falling from a high-floor window in an HDB flat. Then it's classed conveniently as an accident or suicide. Singapore has one the highest rates of this worldwide. Why? Maybe 20 are killed this way every year.Time for society as a whole to stop using maids and domestic helpers. Maybe this can be used as a wakeup call. No more abused maids or killed maids and no more dead kids ( if in fact, it was the maid, I agree, the maid should hang, but the parents should be jailed as well for assessories to homicide.)

Daniela Angel -- Some maids cook food before leaving the house , come back cook again for dinner .some of maid mothers day still at the cage do cooking cleaning washing etc.not even boss say its your day thanks for being a good mother / maid for us and my kids..some of maids only 1 sun off but must leave the house after all done cleaning and comeback b4 dinner to cook..some of them sleeping n the hall no rooms no enough sleep .no enough food abusing the helper ..bt some.was so lucky with good mployer too.. Theres a good and bad side to both helper and mployer ..Let the heart see what the eyes cant see .. Will im here for longterm already i say singapore best country i been n korea & macau but singapore is best ..Julian Agung -- Think n think..N think......both side is totally wrong....maid n employer...Employr...why you dont treat your maid just like your own family, scold them but not to use rude n dirty word, n make them feel free on their offday, n not to do all your house work then after they just came step out from the house. Cos some maid not even got everysunday off, mostly JUST once a month....how can you not feel what they feel also, if YOU are the one in their place,,, how you feel, just imagine????N of course,most of the maid. Just follow what the employer ask them, but u never know what in their mind if they lost their self control..this will happen

Murni Chania -- Totally agreed. .the way you treat your maid it would show up the maid treat your kids,..we are human, sometimes we lost control, especially when it tired, stress , still get scolding. No matter what. ..killed isn't the right way. Just take it for a lesson to the employers.

Mitra Sharon Herela -- It depends to the person ma'am Reshma MB..as a domestic worker my priority is to do my work not using phone..i will use my phone for the important matters not using all the time..

Julian Agung -- Wht the stupid comment... ?? Phone its very important things got employer also for maid,,, pls la, dont bring this phone matter,,,if anything happen into your house how to call in emergency...lucky if you got a house phone, but some employer dont have, they (maid) also have a family. Think about that, if employer always tied up maid with stupid rule, they will become so stressed, mad, anger, n in the end,,,, even they never think to treat your family bad, but becos you treat them that way, in return, your have to take so big consequence by lossing your dearest one,,, anyway,, kill the baby is not the right way , she must pay what she did...hope this world be a good lesson for some employers...dont look down on maid, cos they are the one who do what you can't...

Linda Tan -- I hope that the maid get to suffer the same as the little employer. How can she do this to a 1 yrs old kid. She dont heart ar..... she very heartless. If she rely dont want to work, pls go back to agency n dont qork for them n must kill the kid. What happen if she is the parent herself n her kid was being killed. Of cos, she will be very sad. I hope that our govt law to give this maid a heavy sentence and n give the little life a peaceful day.

Hilary Chng -- This is ridiculous. . An innocent life is taken. . She gets only jail term. There is no reason to kill or take the life of another innocent defenseless baby no matter how unhappy she is. It's brutal. I'm sure the baby smiles back at her too during days when she is down. Where is the humanity?

Chona Betidos -- JUST PUT URSELF IN THIS MAID SETUATION WORKING DOING HOUSE CHORES AND LOOKING AFTER BABY WHOLE DAY AND AT NITE STILL BABY SETTING SO TIRING LIFE AS AN EMPLOYER TRY TO DO THIS TO URSELF SEE IF YOU CAN TAHAN. VERRY EASY TO SAY A WORD JUDGE OTHER PEOPLE WITHOUT LOOKING OURSELF IN THE MIRROR.

SH Ong -- Nobody can force you to work long hours if you not willing to... just quit and get back to your own country.. Dont have to go to the extend to kill a innocent kid..

Loh Wai Poon -- At 30, she should be mature enough to take care of baby? Does she has depression or family problems at home? Punching a baby of 1 yr to stop her crying is so inhumane n ridiculous, it may be sign of mental illness? She is a maid but we must give her a fair trial. Our legal system must be fair to all. Give her the fair treatment she deserves as a suspect. Law is blind. Prove it to all.

Calvin Pillai -- "Maryani has been charged with committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder, with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but not intention to cause death or injury likely to cause death."Straits times.What kind of rubbish is this?

Shirley Soh -- Y maid need to punch the 1 year old baby girl to death? How can a 1 year baby girl knows? Only baby girl knows is crying two things hungry & discomfort. The maid should be sentence to death whether is homicide or accident. She deserves to punish hell as well.

Jeffrey Pun -- Tho the main responsible for tis crime is the maid... but hard truth is.. the family decision. It not gvt job to do the seletion progress to see which maid are able to care for infants/children/handicap parents etc... it down to the FAMILY who decide if the maid is capable or not. U stay with the maid, u see her everyday, u need to communicate and understand YOUR maid. They r going to be part if your family. U must know them juz like knowing ur own children behaviours. Then u will hv better assessment to know if ur maid coping well on their daily duties. YOU must know by checking with them.The problem with our society... if u cannot trust a maid... dun employ them in the 1st place. Our society treat them differently. Assume they must cover ALL housechores duties. Not every human being are the same. If we can treat a dog so good and in return, the dog become ur best friends.. y not a maid. And these helper will become ur most reliable person to care for ur family needs. It not other ppl responsible.. not maid agencies... and pse.. not Govt... is each of you in the family to be responsible. To know ur helper better, to understand their emotion and needs too.

Vito Moe Ang -- Need to hang her no other sentence is justifiable for such cruel and inhuman acts worst than animals

Pete Marshals -- The need to be extremely cautious with who you let around your loved ones cannot be further emphasized. While a maid is hired to help with babies, housework, elderly parents, etc, we must not forget these individuals come from very different backgrounds. Perhaps in those places, life is cheap. Many are from mountains, villages and desert settlements. Nothing to do with mental illness. They get pissed off, they injure and kill. Think: how can even 1 or 2 years of 'training' by the agency or work experience change the mental psyche of such humans? Best practice if you really need a maid near a loved one, get a tried and tested human with 'plenty of years of service'. Increasingly busy lifestyle has resulted in the oversight of even the most obvious of factors - personal safety.

Kamalathevy Vythilingam -- Sometimes can't blame the maid if parents can sleep with their child & let the maid rest definitely nothing will happen. If everything the parents rely on maid was the purpose of having kids. Nowadays working parents are pampered themselves & leaving their child with others. Whatever works parents do shift or non shift try to sacrifice time with your kids & show the love together & sleep with the kids by telling story times. Just wish this maid gets light sentences & no laws takes their own for death sentences

Regina Cherie Lim -- Never ever trusted a maid wholeheartedly...although I let my maid sleep with my baby, I will never lock any room, so if bb cry at night, I was there for her too. No excuse to punch a 1years old...it is inhuman.

Vincent Teo -- Who the hell punches someone on the neck with no intention to kill?! Obviously is murder! Our prosecutors got problem

Eezan Khaylazan Farsyaannkhay -- The maid is most definitely guilty. The parents are also equally guilty because they could have avoided this. BUT I think the government MUST start looking at this issue more seriously and start implementing stricter standards for maid agencies in the selection of the domestic helpers. Obviously, mental stability and the ability to handle stress and pressure must be taken into account.

Serene Olivia Loo -- All Singapore maid is too protected by our Government, as such, the need to be extremely cautious when you want to employ them. If they come for steal and destroy, employer have to pay air ticket to send them home, That's illogic. While a maid is hired to help with babies, housework, elderly parents, etc, these individuals come from very different backgrounds. Perhaps in those places, life is cheap. Many are from jungles, mountains, villages and desert. Nothing to do with mental illness. They get pissed off, they injure and kill. What's a big deal, sad to say that, they are well protected though they committed crime.

Adeline Cheong -- It's really disheartening to hear such news... Reading the article, it happened in the middle of the night , where are her parents, if the child is crying and seeking for attention continuously, shouldn't the parents intervene to check out what happen ? The maid could have in a state of irritation or having problem at home which resulted her to commit such act .. Yes she is a maid and that's her duty to look after the child , but she is still a human like anyone of us here . We do get tired from a day work, that also apply to her ..and if parents are too busy for personal life then don't bear a child cos that is your responsibility as well .. Sometime it could be due to accumulation of problems .. We are not in their shoes and can only have all assumptions .. Life loses due to the child is defenseless and innocent..maid not in Correct states of mind to manage this .. Parents ??? .. It takes two hand to clap . Justice will be served .

Diana Wong -- Since the maid has to punch & strangle the baby until she stopped crying, I wonder why this baby's parents were not awakened by her cries in the silence of the night Pearl Zin -- Should send parents to jail, too, for their irresponsible act of letting the toddler to sleep with a maid at night and not letting the maid to have a full rest at night.

Elizabeth Phua -- Poor baby. She was so innocent. Hope the parents will b strong. And this again affirms maids can never be trusted no matter wat. I hope parents will b more careful (eg put up cameras ard the hse) and think twice abt entrusting their kids to the maids. Yes we shld not abuse maids but we all need to protect our loved ones frm maids too.

Jennifer Poon -- That's y all parents need to work for high-cost living here, then have no choice but depend on maids to take care of their babies & toddlers. If life is not so hard here in Singapore, I believe either parent can take care their own children. I always believe, if you intend to have children u must prepare to take care of them, don't depend on maids/helpers/care-takers.

Angeline Au Yong -- No matter what the reason to kill a 1 years old is heartless ,she should be given10 years ,cane and death penalty. Too many news on maid killing and abusing kids

Cherry Tan -- Do the same as what she hd done to the toddler! ! How can she torture the toddler only a yr old ?!!what has the toddler done to be deserved it ???! The poor toddler hd done nothing and nothing can be done too !!!! Who ever did it wrong but nothing concerned the toddler, she shud hv her own life to carry on !!! No mercy to inhuman! ! No more excuse for light sentence for maid ! Otherwise I will not believe on our law is justice and shame on it too !! Seems many maid can just kill someone because they are mentally stress ! ?That's mean others can do the same too ??? Employer can kill maid bec maid make employer mad too !!! Then u will start seeing people kill people everywhere in our society just because we are mentally ill !!!!

Shalini Shroff -- There is no justification for killing a defenceless child. The maid was a caretaker and she breached her duties. Regardless of reasons be it employer was abusing maid or if she was overworked, the maid as a grown up had the option of leaving her job or even reporting her employer to MOM, instead of murdering the innocent baby. Nope, no matter what you say in your defence, it cannot justify killing the child. I wish you nothing less than hell.Lee Lai Lai Amy -- Is it true that the maid is 30 years old? She doesn't seem so and I was told that many lie about their age. How would you know? If there is fake diploma, there could also be fake ID. Parents that employ maids to look after small children must be extra attentive to your child and not to assume that your helper could do everything. They are only helper, they are not the mother of the child.

Tricia Wong -- Maid has been working for more than a year and the girl was one year old. So the maid had been with the child for a year. Not even a slightest feel of love for the young girl? How cruel and brutal she is...

Christina Wong -- Saw some comment is way too stupid. Saying abuse maid had to death sentence too. Abuse but didn't die. So employer will go in to the prison to sentence. But not life sentence. But taking a life away. Should sentence to death. This maid should sentence to death instead of 10 years. So our little one is not a life? Why don't ask the government to die instead. See will The Maid life sentence or not.

Patricia Soh -- It's obviously murder..punching on a vulnerable and innocent 1 yr old baby..RIP baby..10yr is too lenient . We need death penalty to warn these maids, no mercy for such a beast

El Char Le Grabs --This is why, parents should not allow their children to sleep with the helper. If the helper does all the job during day time and including night time, how could she find peace even for a while? How could she rest? And for the parents,have some considerations. You know how to have a child but you dont know how to take care of them during night time? If that is the case, hire two helpers to care for your baby mainly, so that when the baby sleep, the helper could sleep and have some rest. While the other helper does the household chores.Being a helper is not an easy job, if you dont believe me, try it for yourself, do the jobs that the helper is doing, by doing that, you will know.In this case, thou i dont condone the act of the helper as the baby is innocent , i guess the parents are liable as well. Give the helper a fair trial.

Sangha Vandana -- For new maid especially from a village, they are not used to urban life let alone looking after baby and toddler. MOM must make sure the agents include a short course on infant handling before they are allowed to work for employers.

WeiXin Happygolucky -- She knows that what she was doing could cause death.. Doesn't this justify her act as murder? I hope sg govt. or law review this case and hang this maid to death.. Really damn angry to see such a news. Not happy just don't work or confront the employer.. Why take it on a helpless baby?? The maid sentencing to death will also send warning to all the maids working in sg... Don't think they can get away with anything !!

Mohd Khir Mohd Noor -- Both side must investigate,for employee their burden pushing to maid...for maid better check must be mental problem?

Mohd Isbandi -- Wonder if her case being covered in Indonesia. How is their reactions? Their govt always demand on maid's pay coz not justifying their duties. So this is wat most employers had to endure! Justified that!

Nora Fdz -- Due to high cost of living, both parents need to work and left with only solution is by getting a maid if no one in the family can babysit. What i think is money can alwys find in many ways thou hard but our child can never be replaced. Rather struggling or living by own means by taking care of our own children. Coz we can nvr know wat will happened next thou u treated the maid extremely gd. They r still a strangers to our child n family. Much condolence to the affected family. Be strong. 😢

Victoria Ong -- 10 yrs only??? Such charges will invite more killing and crime .... Sending the wrong message "ill treated by employer = depression = can kill?" If she is under depression, She would have shown some symptom already. She can always ask for transfer, which most FDW are good at doing that... To her life is cheap, but to a 1 year old child ... It's just just so wrong

Mary Tan -- This is a family problems that Singaporeans will be facing if both parents working more hours than spending more time with children until the age of 67 years old. P.A.P MP David Ong and P.A.P members Wendy is the best example of P.A.P government on both parents working until aged 67 years old. So are they still continue this mistake with both parents working system until age 67years old? Do P.A.P MPs addressed what have happened and why it happened in Parliament? Now, it another cases of both parents only want to enjoy the baby bonuses and left all problems to let the maid handle. So who to be blame under such circumstances?

Oli To --If a domestic helper is to be left alone for an extended period with a child or an elderly member, please install CCTV to monitor the home activities to avoid abuse or neglect by the helper. Some elderly can be very nasty to the helper. Kids can get out of control or abuse the helper as well.

Vicvic Iscala Ibutnandi -- As a domestic worker,it can be tough and very stressful our task at times , so to our employers, please be willing to hear us sometimes. Talk to us as a friend. Bcoz in my own experience for 22 years as a maid, we need this good communication between employers and helper. It is bcoz there is time we have family problem in our hometown, or we are stress in something and we need someone to talk to..to give u comfort, but sometime u get this unpleasant treatment from ur employer or from a member of a family. So I think , openess and good communication under one roof is really important between maids and employers.

Rukati Atmaja -- Very sad to hear that but also very hard to say if this such thing could happen and all for the maid responsibility to be blame . Sometimes many parent both very busy and never know or maybe really don't want to know how their children behave but also highly expect from the maid to settle all duty without any wrong doing and no excuse for such a little fault. Especially for taking care of baby is really need patience, keep stable emotional and energy, that's why sometimes will loose control if too much pressure and depressed. Otherwise for all friend whether Indonesian or other country...please well behave and well managed of our tantrum whatever it's condition cos of responsibility of duty.

Vin Chia -- I suggest the government may able to control all this indonesia to enter singapore,coz they can't take stress at all

Shi Su Chen -- This disheartening news has brought back unforgettable memories whereby both my little vulnerable ones were physically abused by helpers. Sacked them at once and quitted my work to look after them by myself. My heart is with both parents during this difficult times.

Anupama Gautham -- She should be hanged to death! No mercy here.. Imagine the amount of pain the baby would have gone through! after being in so much discomfort and crying for so long.. OMG the state of the baby is unimaginable!

Zura Zurah -- As a maid .we paid you to work here and in return u kill the child .what is this ? MAID pay is getting more and this what happens after. Please look into this .

Juanita Holbert -- The maid should have quit if it was too much on her to handle a constantly crying baby!! This could have been prevented!!

Kevin Goh -- From most reports thru the years, most killer maids seems to be from Indonesia. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Alfred Gan -- These actions are more akin to Murder. What culpable homicide? Total absolutely RUBBISH!

Indonesian maid to be charged over child's death, Straits Times, 10 May 2016==========Extracted articles - I believe both were not reported by MediaCorp or SPHMum catches maid breastfeeding her babyHow would you react if you found out that your baby was being breastfed by your maid? This Singaporean mother captures her Indonesian maid offering her breast to her 7-month-old baby on cameraJoanna* is a working mother, a 30-year-old lawyer in Singapore. What she found on her ‘nanny camera’ is not only disturbing, but terrifying for any mother to watch. She shares her story with us…When I had my first child, I thought maternity leave would be lovely bonding and lots of walks, snuggly outdoor time. But I spent most of my maternity leave topless, nursing and pumping. I wanted to breastfeed till my baby girl was a year old but by the time I went back to work (4 months later), my fatigue with juggling work life and being a new mum got the better of me. I struggled for the next two months, then decided to switch to full formula feeding when Emma* was 6 months old.Before I went back to work, I hired a maid through a reputable maid agency and Ayla* was the helper that was recommended to me. She was young (aged 24), from Batam, and had left her 2-year-old son back home with her family to come to Singapore to earn money to build a bigger home for them. I felt sorry for her and gave her a good starting salary for someone inexperienced.The first month that Ayla had come into my home, my life got much easier. I was able to concentrate on work, and when I came home, it was 100 percent baby time. It felt wonderful coming back to a clean and happy place, and I felt more fulfilled as a mother with this arrangement.My husband was away most of the time (he travels a lot for work) and we Skyped a lot so he wouldn’t miss our baby’s special moments. Ayla was given her own room, with Sundays off (this was when I would take Emma to visit her grandparents). My husband was not very comfortable with a maid being left alone all day with his child, but I kept assuring him that she was a good fit and took great care of Emma. I told him there was nothing to worry about.Still, he insisted that I install a camera in the hall of our home. He had heard numerous horror stories about maids in Singapore, and he just wanted to feel completely safe with a stranger being around our child all the time. I did it after a few nagging conversations with him.Everyday from work, I would check the camera footage from my smartphone, at intervals, to monitor the activities at home. Mostly it showed Emma playing in her play-pen, and Ayla cleaning, or playing with her. Nothing out of the ordinary.But one dreadful afternoon, I couldn’t believe what I saw while at my lunch break. Ayla was seen offering her left breast to my child! Emma could be seen sucking for a couple of seconds, then refusing to continue. After a few minutes, she shifts Emma to her right breast. My heart literally stopped for a bit- I was infuriated and disgusted by her actions. Throughout the episode, Emma was moving away, resisting her breasts.I froze and couldn’t think clearly. Why the sudden urge to attempt to breastfeed her? Did Ayla still have milk? I knew she left a suckling baby behind. But that was 2 months ago! Was it even possible that she still had milk in her? Yes, of course it was.I dropped everything, and drove back home with the wildest thoughts in my head. Was my baby a victim of a sexual motive? What if I hadn’t installed the camera? What if I missed this footage today? It may have continued for a while!My stomach was in knots, I felt faint and nauseous. I called my husband and he went beserk, naturally. He was away in Penang then, and booked the next flight to get home to us. He advised me to stay calm while I confronted Ayla.I was completely shaken and couldn’t control my emotions – I walked into my home and I demanded an explanation from her. Initially, she lied saying that Emma was crying uncontrollably and she was trying to soothe her, after my baby was touching her breasts. She even dared to tell me that since I was not offering Emma my breast milk, she thought she needed the nourishment so she tried to offer her milk.I didn’t want to hear more. I called the police, made a report and she was made to undergo medical tests. This was really wrong on so many levels including the fact that HIV, Hepatitis B and other serious illnesses can be transmitted through breast milk. Thankfully she was tested negative for all diseases.It’s been 3 months since that horrific incident and it still boggles my mind as to what she was imagining when she breastfed my baby. She breached the trust that was bestowed in her of guarding my baby against danger. All I can do is thank my husband for making me install the camera, and am so lucky that I caught it in time.

“I witnessed a toddler being whacked by his maid in a local mall”The woman pinches his arm and when he cries, she curses at him and tells him he’s a bad boy.I’ve heard countless nightmare stories about maids in Singapore from friends, relatives and colleagues. Had I ever witnessed one? No. But what I saw today really struck horror in me and raises a string of questions on how our kids are being treated by our maids. Are we all victims of bad and terrifying maids? Why are there so many stories about the mean and crazy things they do?I, on the other hand, am fortunate to have a lovely helper. She’s from India and she has never given me any problem for the past 2 years that she’s worked in my home. My kids are aged 7 and 9, and I constantly ask them about how she treats them – they have nothing but nice things to say about her. And for that, I am thankful.I had read the recent story on the maid hitting a baby and being caught on camera by her employers- that was ridiculously scary! But seeing something similar happen right in front of my eyes felt even more real and impactful.My son attends enrichment classes at Mind Stretcher Learning Centre at Punggol Plaza every Saturday. Last week, we were early for his lesson, so we grabbed a quick bite at the food court on the first level.Halfway through our meal, I heard someone yelling, and then came slapping sounds. My son was too startled to react- he just looked at me, trying to figure out if I was going to intervene or not. As we turned towards the direction of the commotion, I noticed a young lady (she must have been in her early twenties), seated at a nearby table, with a serious expression on her face. Next to her was a small boy, not more than 3 years of age. He was looking at her in fear, while she went on screaming at him to ‘’eat faster!’’ Seeing that the boy was Indian, and she looked Filipino, I assumed she was the maid. But I wasn’t sure.I continued having my breakfast, not thinking anything of it. Yet, I felt something was amiss, so I kept a close eye on them. Moments later, the lady started smacking the boy on his tummy at first, then she hit the back of his head with her handphone! I was not only shocked, but fuming mad. She forcefully tugged at his shirt, shouting at him to eat his food. The little boy was playing with his fishball and expressed that he didn’t want to eat. I waited to see if she would stop, but she didn’t.Her loud yelling continued, and she began pulling his ears and pinching his arm. This got too much for me to handle. I told my son to carry on eating, and I confronted the lady. At this point, she was fishing out something from her purse. Upon getting closer, I could hear her threatening the boy to ‘call the police if you’re not going to finish your noodles.”What she did next caught me by surprise, and is something I couldn’t digest (even till now). She took out a set of keys from her purse and started digging them into the toddler’s arm! He shrieked in pain and started to cry at the top of his voice. At this point, I was right next to their table and heard her curse at him, telling him he’s a bad boy and he ‘must be punished’. The boy sank to the floor of the food court and continued crying. I stared disapprovingly at the woman. My motherly instinct told me to step in.“Are you his mother?” I jumped right in. There was no time to be wasted- I meant business. She looked at me in panic, and tried to get up and walk off, but of course I didn’t let that happen. “No his mother is at home. I am his maid. Why ma’am?” She was trembling by then.I gestured for the boy to come to me, and he came running and held my hand really tight. I felt such an excruciating amount of pain at that moment. I took him in my arms and asked if he was okay. He kept sobbing and wiping his face on my shirt. He said nothing- just pointed to the red marks on his skin. The keys had left deep impressions on his arm!I told the maid I wanted to call and speak to the boy’s mum. She shook in fear, and kept asking me what I had seen. I told her I was watching from afar on how she was mishandling and whacking him, and I was concerned.She begged me not to complain to her employer. “He give me a hard time and not eating, ma’am.” I would have none of it. I insisted to have the number or I would walk her to the police station nearby. She finally gave in and rang his mum from her mobile phone.Having explained what had happened to her over the phone (in not so many words), I kept the child with me till his mum arrived. She was needless to say very upset and reprimanded her maid in front of me. “He’s just a child, how can you whack him and poke him with my keys? Are you mad?”I showed her the marks that were left on her son’s arms and advised her to report the incident to the MOM as well as the maid agency. Nobody should be doing this to a child- not even his own parents.The maid sat in a corner and wept all the way- we didn’t care. “Sorry mom, it only happened this one time. Please don’t call the police.” She tried to convince her employer but of course, her words meant nothing. We would let MOM deal with her. Upon a phone call, an authority from MOM came to take her away and a report was made. It was important to call her out on it so that she knew it was a severe mistake she had made, not something to be taken lightly.My son was with me throughout this episode and as finally we walked up to his class (now he was late), and it melted my heart when he exclaimed excitedly, “Mummy, I am so proud of you for taking care of that boy! If it weren’t for you, his mum would have not known he was being hit by his maid.”I thank my lucky stars for being at the right place at the right time. Had I not witnessed the abuse, that little boy may have had to endure pain for a long time to come. Not a memory I’d like to keep, but definitely an eye-opening encounter for me.

Maid jailed eight months for forgery and stealing from employer, Straits Times, 10 Mar 2016A Filipino domestic worker forged her employer's signature on stolen cheques and stole $4,060 worth of jewellery from a safe box. Mercyluna Misa Villajos, 34, was jailed for eight months on Thursday (March 10) after she admitted to two counts of forgery and one of stealing from her employer, Mr Chee Choe Yin, at his apartment in Cambridge Road. Five other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.The court heard that Villajos found a key to her employer's safe box in his pants pocket in November 2014 and kept it. She later used it to open the safe box and stole eight rings and a gold necklace totalling $4,060. Sometime in December that year, while Mr Chee was out, she took his United Overseas Bank cheque book on the dining table and removed nine cheques.On Dec 5, she wrote the word "CASH" under the payee column and the amount of $1,250 on a cheque. She encashed the cheque eight days later. She claimed that she remitted the money to her relatives in the Philippines. On the same occasion, she also took Mr Chee's POSB cheque book from a drawer in the master bedroom. She removed four cheques and wrote the amount of $2,000 on one.She asked a friend to encash it on her behalf on Dec 16. Villajos returned $1,000 she owed to her friend and claimed she remitted the remaining sum to her relatives back home. Both times, she forged Mr Chee's signature by referring to a separate document bearing his signature.Mr Chee lodged a police report on Jan 6 last year after discovering cheques missing from his cheque book and unauthorised withdrawals had been made from his UOB account. Pleading for leniency, Villajos' lawyer Krishna Morthy said the single mother of two was the sole breadwinner of her family. She received a call in December that year that her mother had Stage 4 liver cancer. The medical bills for her mother were unpaid and the family faced eviction. Desperate and stressed by her mother's critical illness, she committed the offences, he said. The maximum penalty for theft as a servant is seven years' jail and a fine, and for forgery, life imprisonment or 15 years' jail and a fine.Facebook comments:Ken Yeoh -- Come here to work, work lah, don't steal from the hand that actually feeds you, and your family back home. No matter how employers treat you, stealing is still a wrong.

Peter Tan -- So there are good and bad employers and maids no one side is always right and good that is why never believe in one side of any story.

Andrew Singh -- So the law is also fair for this case and jailed this maid for forgery. Employers should lock their valuables and carry the keys with them. Please do not leave the keys unattended. Yes, it is inconvenient but that is a price to pay for stay-in maid. The best is to hire part time maid to clean your house and do the laundry plus ironing on weekends whole day @ $10-12 per hour market rate. No worry over security or hanky panky such as bring men to your house for a romp. You can also install CCTV but why go through such trouble if you can do without a stay-in maid?

Phrelle Fumare -- OH NO she give us maid bad impression to nice singaporean employers. she is shame to us nice maids working in singapore.

Eric Wong -- Yes we should not be stereotypical. .. I myself a Singaporean working in Singapore....knows Singaporean who are very Rich themselves... yet who steals...and when they steal.......we are not talking about just 10 of thousands only....When Human Nature turns greedy...no matter what ..Race Nationality ...or Religion they are in.....they STEAL.

Mavsky Ordanza Martin -- Never take advantage on our boss kindness,always think the consequences before do such silly things,now u go to jail whos going to feed ur kids?pity of them..u spoil the reputation of ur family and for we all filipinos dh working here in sg..

Aida Monteclaro Neuda -- you are one block dot which ruined the image of innocent Filipino OFW's..you are a shame to us..

LoveIs Mahal -- She deserves it! Why steal? She thinks can't be track? I believe there are people who has this kind of disorder. Honesty is the best policy and never steal things if it does not belongs to u. Money is the root of all evil if u would allow greedinees in your heart.

Rakz C. Seballos -- Whatever reason we have, stealing is not the answer for everything, you are just adding to the problem you are facing,,,,,,,God bless everyone

Deltamaris Sri Wulandari -- Wow she got the skill! She must be use to steal otherwise she will not dare to steal her employer's money

Jumotomo Takamei -- not bad ah. she knows how her employer sign ah==========Winter: Indonesian maid didn't note down 'proper escape route' or 'kind people' who will fight for her free. She wasn't paying attention when SIP was conducted. Maid didn't know if she made up sad stories, lied eg claim ill-treated, HOME (activist) will not blacklist or make her pay for the time and money wasted on her. There are many ways to get a damsel (FDW) out of distress.... at others' expense--> employers! Activists would be delighted to have people like below running to them so that they can prove that Spore has plenty of bad maids. Too many people have been donating to HOME, etc so F&B and effort put in to nail FDWs' employer will certainly not come from FDWs' pocket.... even if maid was the one at fault (I look biased??).

Indonesian maid flee employers' flat via rubbish chute, The New Paper, 19 Feb 2016At 28cm by 19cm, the rubbish chute opening is just half the size of a copy of The New Paper. Not that its size deterred Rindu, an Indonesian domestic worker who is 1.57m tall and weighs 53kg.The 28-year-old somehow managed to squeeze herself into the opening and, with a makeshift rope, tried to lower herself from her former employers' seventh-storey Housing Board flat. But she lost her grip and ended up falling down the dark and dirty chute, injuring her spine and leg. Now recuperating at a shelter in Batam, Rindu, who declined to give her full name, told TNP last Friday in English: "I just wanted to go away. I didn't think about the injuries. Maybe I'm crazy."Recalling the days leading up to her escape attempt in November last year, she said her first month at work was fine and went smoothly. She had come to Singapore in hopes of earning money to supplement her mother's irregular income, and it was her first job.But Rindu soon became depressed after being allegedly mistreated by her employers. The Ministry of Manpower has disputed her claims. The employers have also reportedly engaged a lawyer for the case."I'm on a transfer (to another family), but I think I want to go away from this situation. I cannot wait like this. Because the situation at that time, I was really depressed..." she told TNP.In three days, she hatched her escape plan. She would leave through the rubbish chute. To her, that was the "safest" and only way. She said the door was electronically locked and she did not have the keys. Neither the stench nor the danger of the act crossed her mind. "The rubbish would be 'soft-soft', that was what I thought..." said the Indonesian. Rindu also claimed she did not know who to seek help from, even though she attended the Settling-In Programme in September last year. The programme teaches first-time foreign domestic workers the different avenues to seek help from, including the hotline number to call."I wanted to try calling the police but I didn't know the number," she said. In the wee hours of Nov 21 - just over 2½ months into her job - she fashioned a rope by tying four bedsheets together. MOM: She did not bring up issuesShe had earlier claimed she tried to flee because she was mistreated by her employers. These allegations, however, did not surface when Rindu was interviewed by the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) investigating officer (IO) "despite being given repeated opportunities", a spokesman told The New Paper yesterday.The IO first intercepted Rindu at the ferry terminal last month. All Rindu said at the time was that she wanted to return to Indonesia, and had no complaints against her employers. The IO, however, arranged to defer Rindu's departure and conducted an in-depth interview with the assistance of an interpreter.When asked about her duties and well-being, Rindu said her former employers, apart from nagging at her often, had not mistreated her. She did not lack rest or food, and she had no complaints against her employers or about her employment conditions. "She also did not bring up the incident where she alleged that her employer had splashed hot water on her or that the house keys were taken from her," said MOM's spokesman.If Rindu's account of alleged mistreatment is accurate, the proper avenue for redress would be to lodge a report with MOM and record a formal statement to facilitate investigation. MOM's spokesman said: "Singapore has clear laws in place to protect the safety and well-being of foreign domestic workers (FDWs). "To ensure a meaningful and fair investigation process, FDWs should cooperate with the Ministry and provide accurate, relevant and timely information to facilitate investigation. FDWs who wilfully make false accusations will also be taken to task."MOM advises workers with employment issues they cannot resolve directly with employers to seek help from their employment agents, who have a duty to render assistance. Workers should not take matters into their own hands and attempt acts that will cause harm to themselves or others."

It is common for foreign domestic workers (FDW) to keep mum about their situation when interviewed by officers from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), said Mr Jolovan Wham. "They are afraid of 'trouble'. There is widespread fear of being blacklisted and not being able to return here to work," the executive director of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) added. The same fear could also explain why some FDWs choose not to report any form of mistreatment to the authorities."Actually the fear they have is (that) they may be penalised for filing a complaint. They are afraid if they go to MOM or the police, they may be blacklisted or lose their jobs (Winter: Media reported maid has no intention to work in Spore even though placed on transfer so what's there to be afraid? Blacklisting will only affect FDW who wants to work in Spore. Too pampered, cannot accept the role and work of a FDW pushed this maid to risk her life... ran away in an unusual way, who to blame?). "Therefore, the solution is to ensure they are protected from losing their jobs when they seek help and file complaints," he said.

Of the 20 domestic workers who turned up at the shelters two weeks ago, two-thirds are new FDWs here while the rest have experience. "They had various complaints. Some alleged physical abuse while many others complained of being psychologically and verbally abused and working exploitative hours with no days off," Mr Wham said.

CCTV catches maid kicking 23-month old child, The New Paper, 5 Jan 2016The video footage was devastating: It showed his maid unleashing a kick to his 23-month old daughter's left thigh. The toddler toppled over from the force of the kick. Mr Christopher Sun, 28, was stunned.The first sign of trouble was when he saw scratch marks on his daughter's arms in May last year. He had employed Indonesian Khaerun Nisa Selfitriya, 28, after the birth of his second child, as both he and his wife are working full-time.Mr Sun is Khaerun's second employer. When he confronted her about the scratch marks, she told him that his daughter got hurt in preschool. The sales executive then made a trip to the school to find out more. "They told me that it was unlikely that my daughter got hurt in school because she was adored by her friends and teachers," said Mr Sun.He did not press the matter further after the school offered to check their closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera. Concerned for his children's safety and suspicious, he installed a CCTV camera in his home. To his horror, the footage showed Khaerun ill-treating his children in the living room of their four-room flat in Woodlands.

Mr Sun told The New Paper: "I was furious that she was daring enough to abuse my children. "My wife and I have never once laid our hands on them like that." Mr Sun added that his wife, who works as a beautician, was heartbroken and felt betrayed because she had treated Khaerun well throughout the five months she was living with the family."Two weeks before the incident, my wife took Khaerun and the children along with her to visit her parents in China," said Mr Sun, a Singaporean. "My mother-in-law fed her well and even bought her new clothes." During one of her weekly visits to check on her grandchildren, Mr Sun's mother told him that his flat was dusty and unkempt. "The maid told us that she didn't know how to cook, so we told her to just help out with some household chores," said Mr Sun."After about five months into her employment, she became complacent, waking up late and taking naps in the middle of the day." Mr Sun's next-door neighbour, Madam Rohanah, 58, described Khaerun as friendly and mild-mannered. "We used to talk occasionally when I hung my laundry in the corridor and their front door was open," said the retiree. "Sometimes I gave her some food to eat."I have never seen her scolding the children, so the news took me by surprise." Mr Sun has since employed another maid, a Myanmar national, from another agency. "I definitely didn't expect this to happen, but I know that I cannot have the mindset that all maids are like this," he said.Just to be sure, he has installed two CCTV cameras in his flat and asked his parents to help monitor the household. "My parents visit our flat every three to four days to check on my children," he said. "On some weekends, my daughter sleeps over at their place. Hopefully, it'll lessen the burden on our new maid."

Maid jailed for ill-treating toddlers. She had lashed out at her employer's two toddlers, thinking that nobody would find out.Last October, Indonesian maid Khaerun Nisa Selfitriya kicked Mr Christopher Sun's 21-month-old daughter and slapped his eight-month-old son's back multiple times. But Khaerun, 28, did not know about the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera in Mr Sun's four-room flat in Woodlands.Yesterday, Khaerun was sentenced to four months' jail on two counts of ill-treating the children. Deputy Public Prosecutor Kenneth Kee had asked for a jail sentence of at least four months because the minors were "defenceless, young toddlers" unable to voice their concerns to their parents.CCTV footage showed Khaerun, a native of Lombok, Indonesia, feeding the children in the living room at about 6.50pm on Oct 14. She suddenly kicked Mr Sun's daughter on her left thigh after the toddler refused to finish her food and started to vomit and cry. The kick caused the girl to fall on her right side and hit her head on the floor.About 10 minutes earlier, her younger sibling had cried during feeding. Khaerun, a mother of four girls, then shouted "no" and slapped the boy's back multiple times with her left hand.

Her lawyer, Mr Nasser Ismail, said Khaerun "had reached a breaking point where she lost her mind on that fateful day". A combination of stress and depression had triggered her ill-treatment of the children, he said during mitigation. He added: "Khaerun never intended nor actually harmed the children. She is truly remorseful for her folly."At the end of the court proceedings, a cheerful Khaerun was heard saying, "Thank you, Ma'am," to District Judge Michelle Yap. "Khaerun never intended nor actually harmed the children. She is truly remorseful for her folly." - Mr Nasser Ismail, lawyer for Indonesian maid Khaerun Nisa SelfitriyaOther cases:JULY 2015A Filipino maid was jailed two weeks for hurting a baby.While attending to her employer's crying baby girl at around 1.30am on Feb 21, she had pulled the seven-month-old's right hand forcefully, causing a fracture.She admitted to being forceful with the baby as "she was agitated and tired".APRIL 2015Indonesian maid Annisa was jailed three years for lacing breast milk meant for her employer's two-month-old baby with eucalyptus oil.She had meant to scare and anger her employer into sending her back to Indonesia.Her crime was discovered in August 2014, when her employer noticed a pungent smell coming from one of the bags of breast milk she had kept in the freezer.The employer later discovered among Annisa's belongings a bottle of eucalyptus oil.APRIL 2012A Myanmar maid was jailed three months for flinging a knife at her employer's daughter, aged 4.The maid's action in February that year was caught on a hidden CCTV camera.She was seen slapping the girl on the head, hitting her arm and pulling her hair.The maid took a knife with a 20cm-long blade from the kitchen after being frustrated trying to get the girl to eat.

Maid pleas for help on Facebook -- but turns violent on cops when they arrive, The New Paper, 6 June 2015A foreign domestic worker turned to Facebook in a plea for help on Wednesday. But she put up a fierce struggle against police officers who came to her aid and ended up being pinned to the floor.The maid from the Philippines, who is in her 20s, was arrested that night. On Wednesday afternoon, she had updated her Facebook status with a simple "help me" followed by the address of the Ubi flat she works at. When concerned Facebook friends commented, asking her what had happened, she requested only for their help to call the police.Her post was brought to The New Paper's attention. TNP then alerted the police. A police spokesman confirmed that they were alerted to a call for public assistance at about 7pm on June 3. A woman in her 20s was arrested under the Mental Health Act, the spokesman said. Under the law, the police can arrest a person who is reported to be mentally unsound, and believed to be of danger to himself or others. When TNP arrived at the Ubi flat at about 7.40pm on Wednesday, police officers were seen taking the statements of an elderly couple and a middle-aged woman, believed to be the Filipina's employers. After about 30 minutes, wails and screams could be heard from the flat. Police officers were seen trying to restrain the helper. It took at least three police officers to pin her down. She was arrested under the Mental Health Act, and is understood to be warded at Changi General Hospital.When TNP approached one of her employers yesterday, she would only say that "the case is closed" on her end, and declined to comment further. The elderly woman, who declined to be named, claimed she did not call the police on her maid. "She called the police herself. I was shocked when the police arrived at our doorstep. "I don't know, maybe she has been emotionally unstable," she told TNP in Mandarin.When asked if she will employ a new foreign domestic worker, she shrugged. "We are all still a little shocked and haven't decided if we should look for a new helper. It is a headache," she said. Neighbours TNP spoke to said that they saw police officers on Wednesday evening, but did not know what could have triggered the arrest.The helper's family and friends were clueless too. When contacted, her older sister said she was unhappy working in Singapore, and toyed with the idea of changing employers. Friends told TNP they do not know what had happened to her and that they were worried for her. Some of them had suggested on Facebook that she approach the Philippine Embassy for help when she posted the plea for help. A foreign domestic worker who wanted to be known only as Grace told TNP that her call for help was the maid's first Facebook update in four months. She first came to Singapore to work in February, said Grace, who works in Hong Kong."We don't know (what happened)... My friend said that she and (her) agency were not on good terms," she said. Miss Chelsea, a foreign domestic worker who works in the Middle East, said she tried asking her family and friends in Singapore to help her. "She is just not telling (us) anything about what happened to her. "I know there's something wrong... (But she said) just call (the) police." Investigations are ongoing, the police spokesman said.Reduced charge for maid initially accused of murder, 22 Apr 2015, MypaperThe Indonesian maid accused of murdering her employer, the socialite and philanthropist Nancy Gan Wan Geok, is no longer facing the capital charge.An amended charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was preferred against Dewi Sukowati yesterday. Dewi, 23, was originally charged with murdering Ms Gan, 69, at her bungalow in Victoria Park Road between 7.30am and 8.46am on March 19 last year.The amended charge states that she hit Ms Gan's head against a wall and the floor kerb, then pushed her into a swimming pool, with the intention of causing bodily injuries likely to cause her death. Ms Gan suffered head injuries and was found in her pyjamas. Dewi's lawyer, Mohamed Muzammil Mohamed, said he would be making representations and meeting his client's family in their village in Indonesia. Dewi received her work permit on March 12 last year and had been working for Ms Gan for barely a weekbefore the incident.According to a website bearing her name, Nancygan.com, Ms Gan was involved in fund-raising efforts for the Bone Marrow Donor Programme, the Singapore Association for the Visually Handicapped and Singapore Cancer Society.Dewi will be back in court on June 23. If convicted, she could be jailed for life, or face a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine.
==========Winter: This makes me wonder why MOM siding maid agencies and FDWs. Why allow maid agencies to earn easy money and need not compensate employers eg employed below type of FDW? Why till-date we don't get any protection from the claws of 'vulnerable and pathetic maids'? Being a FDW-employer is something I dread but do I have a choice? To stay employable, have my own income instead of being looked down when requesting for VWO's limited subsidy .... which would you choose if you are in my shoes?Extracted this from one of the comments in my blog. Posted in "House rules" on 13 Apr 15First and foremost, i sympathize with you having a special needs child.IT is already challenging raising a 'normal' child what more a child who needs extra attention.I have given up on maids. I hired too many including one who i was informed by a replacement from the same agency who went 'mad' in the indonesian agency and would drool and roll on the floor.The agent never informed me of her strange behaviour and it was my kids who told me that this particular maid would stare blankly at the wall while holding a knife.I informed the agent immediately that the maid was a little 'off' as she kept gorging herself with food including the kids Pediasure milk, my organic chocolate, using all my toiletries and eating the food i prepared as she said it tasted better than her cooking.(keep in mind, i bought her her own toiletries, jam, bread, biscuits, noodles,kaya) but she insisted on using her fingers to scoop out EVERYTHING i cooked for my husband... from pates to desserts.This was done within a span of ONE SHORT WEEK.she would also ignore my kids and cry every day for the slightest reason like when i told her to help me clean my window grill(without opening them so its safe) , you know what she said? She said the detergent is going to make her nails brittle so she would only clean it for 10 minutes.... i was fine with it but i realised sadly, the minute you show understanding of ANY SORT..... YOULL BE EATEN ALIVE.She got more demanding, stole more food, rummaged through my wardrobe, tried on all my shoes, and started flirting with my husband. All along, the agent whom i called for help was busy but i raised my voice and told them to take her back. The agent finally came when i told them about the knife incident and said,'She is new , let her adapt..."and kept convincing her that im a nice lady and that she wont be able to find another patient employer.I insisted they remove her from my house and they did so VERY RELUCTANTLY.imagine if i was working full time.... i may not even know what the heck was going on at home!!!So be very vigilant when hiring a maid and dont be too understanding to their nonsense.You will suffer for it.Big hugs to your little girl.Take care and be strong.

==========Winter: To many people, maids are vulnerable, need a lot of care, protection and unconditional love. FDWs are not treated like adults and made responsible for their bad behaviour/actions. MOM hasn't been stingy in dishing out policies so that maids can enjoy life in Spore and get salary that is many times higher than home countries. If the following are committed by your maid or your loved ones are suffering/killed due to FDW, do you brush aside and find excuse such as the maid was provoked, she was not treated well, abused, etc? 摸摸你的良知. 做人别太自私，盲目跟从. 爱心泛滥 宽容可能是大错.This maid below deserves your sympathy?Did something wrong, while waiting to be repatriated, she hit her employer with a hammer. FDW felt stealing is no big deal? She assumed nobody will be hurt by her hammer or act of revenge? How do we educate FDWs, let them know what they are doing are wrong (stealing, lied to get a job, become prostitute/play girl, etc) and should be punished? Employer not at fault yet penalized or bear FDW's action, fair? For so many years, why maid agencies can collect easy money and no need to bear any responsibility/due diligence? We are merely employers (not ATM machines or own a company), why there are so many MOM loopholes and responsibilities on our shoulders.... commoners? Why MOM shielded FDWs who are adults and not making them bear full consequences for their acts, including her death or injury? If FDW lied about her age or work capability, based on Spore employment terms, she is a liar and maid agency should be held fully responsible but for many years, MOM sided FDWs, source countries and maid agencies. Being the most easiest target, the ones who paid for FDW's salaries, employers are suffering yet activists and MOM don't care.... just because the FDWs' work permits and insurance policies bear our names, we became our FDW's legal guardian.It doesn't pay to be kind. Telling your FDW in advance that she'll be repatriated may just give you headaches. For your own and family's protection, it is better to give immediate termination notice. Ask yourself, can you afford to take risks? Are you capable of picking up the consequences as a result of your irresponsible, insensible or unsound FDW?==========Serangoon flat fire: Employer in shock after police arrest Myanmar maid for mischief by fire, 2 Feb 2015, STOMP

Police arrested a 28-year-old maid from Myanmar in relation to the fire at a flat in Serangoon.

Her flat had been gutted by a fire and her maid taken to hospital for smoke inhalation. Worried that her maid would have no clothes to wear after she was discharged, Mrs Gina Ong said she bought new clothes for her. "But police told me not to see her," the 32-year-old interior designer added.At about 3.30pm yesterday, several police officers went to her flat on the 10th storey of Block 506, Serangoon North Avenue 4, with the 28-year-old woman from Myanmar in tow. They took the maid around the gutted unit and emerged after about 1½ hours. To Mrs Ong's shock, the police had put handcuffs on her maid. "I can't believe it," said Ms Ong in tears as the maid was led away.A police spokesman told The New Paper that the case has been classified as mischief by fire. Investigations are underway. Mrs Ong said the maid had worked with the family for just 11 days before the fire. She had employed her to help look after her children, aged four to 15. Mrs Ong, who has previously employed maids from Indonesia, said she switched to employing someone from Myanmar because it was cheaper.She said her agency had recommended the maid to her. According to Mrs Ong's mother-in-law, Madam Wang, the maid began crying from the first night with them and continued to do so every night. "She would cry at 7pm every night, but when we asked her what was wrong, she would say she was okay," said the 65-year-old housewife in Mandarin. "I don't think she understood us, because when we tried to teach her things, she wouldn't get it. "But she never told us she was unhappy or that she wanted to go back home." The fire has left the family scrambling to find alternative living arrangements. Said Mrs Ong: "We're currently living with our siblings, but we don't know where we are going to live in future. We are a family now separated into three places." She said the fire had destroyed "about 95 per cent" of their possessions. "My children's uniforms were all destroyed in the fire and my husband doesn't even have underwear to wear now," she said. "We are living one moment at a time."Mrs Ong said she is worried that the insurance payout would not be sufficient. "Our insurance only covers the structural things, like the walls and windows. But how about our possessions? Our clothes, medicine, appliances and furniture, everything was destroyed," she said. Despite her family's situation, Mrs Ong remains thankful that no lives were lost. She said: "We are in despair, but at least we need not grieve.Wheelchair-bound elderly women wait outside Bedok Mall store -- while maids shop, 30 Dec 2014, STOMPStomper Chua saw how two elderly women on wheelchairs were left unattended outside a store in Bedok Mall, while their domestic helpers were shopping. She came across the sight yesterday afternoon (Dec 29).Chua told Stomp:"Two wheelchair-bound old ladies were seen waiting for their maids to shop for clothes at Cotton On in Bedok Mall yesterday afternoon. "The maids took their own sweet time to shop for clothes and just left the elderly unattended for very long."

Maid hits employer with hammer, jumps to death, Mypaper, 21 Jan 2015A Maid who jumped to her death at a condominium in the east on Monday had attacked her employer with a hammer just before that, reports said.Police said they received a call at 8.02am on Monday, requesting assistance in Bedok Reservoir View.They found a woman lying motionless at the location. She was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene. The woman is believed to be Palwinder Kaur, a maid who worked for one of the residents at the condominium, Aquarius By The Park.She had been due to be sent back as her employer suspected her of stealing, Shin Min Daily News said. Her employer was taken to hospital and recounted how she was attacked to a neighbour, IT consultant Abishek, 40.He told Shin Min that the maid held her employer's nose and mouth, and hit the employer's head with a hammer.The employer struggled and bit the maid's hand, then ran out of the house. She alerted the neighbours and security guards.When they returned to the apartment, the maid ran to her room and jumped, a guard said.The police are investigating the unnatural death.Winter: Maid can quit if she is prideful, cannot be scolded even though mistakes were made. She should not vent her anger on a minor or somebody who is vulnerable. The existing MOM policies are not protecting vulernable employers and those placed under FDWs' care. Just because we are wearing an 'Employer cap' we are treated like we are capable of bullying others and will not be at any disadvantage/losing end... is this fair to household like mine or below?

Maid jailed for hurting employer's 87-year old Alzheimer mum 22 Jan 2015 STOMP/Straits TimesA domestic worker who vented her frustration on her employer's elderly mother by hurting the 87-year-old more than 20 times was jailed for 12 months on Wednesday. Indonesian Sulastri Sakiran Sumadi, 37, had borne a grudge against her employer over a dispute they had sometime in February last year, according to The Straits Times.Instead of sorting the matter out with her employer, Ms Marlene Poh Geok Hee, 51, she vented her dissatisfaction on Ms Poh's mother, Madam Tan Lye Hoe, by using her bare hands or an object to hurt her as a form of revenge.She faced 24 charges and admitted to eight counts.Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Lai said Sulastri was employed in April 2013 to do household chores and take care of Madam Tan, who suffers from a host of medical conditions including Alzheimer's disease. She was also bedridden.From May 17 to June 21 last year, Sulastri repeatedly caused hurt to various parts of the victim's body using various means at her employer's home in Dunman Road. Every time she hit or inflicted hurt upon the victim, the elderly woman would neither retaliate nor shout. Instead, she would say "sakit'' (Malay for pain) softly and apologise to the maid, despite not knowing what she had done which led to the assault.Unknown to the maid, her actions of voluntarily causing hurt were recorded by a closed-circuit TV installed in the victim's room. It was only when the victim complained to her daughter of pain in her head did the latter review the CCTV footage and saw what Sulastri had done.The court heard that on three occasions on June 13, Sulastri forcefully hit the victim's shoulders with her hands, used a pillow to hit her face, and a comb to hit Madam Tan's head.On June 20, she used a dustbin to hit the victim's leg, followed by a towel to hit her face. She also hit the victim on the face on three separate occasions the next day.

Pleading for a light sentence, Sulastri said her mother died in February last year and she had asked her employer for leave to go home but was rejected. She said she could not control her mind and took it out on the victim.Chinese paper, Shin Min Daily News reported above maid also forcefully pinched Madam Tan's private part. Judge commented maid is cruel and vicious.狠毒女佣虐待女雇主的八旬失智老母，19次拳打头脸，还猛捏私处，遭房间内电眼拍下。被告是来自印尼的女佣苏拉斯蒂（37岁），遭虐待的是女雇主的87岁老母陈来好，两人事发时住在德明路一带的住屋单位，并且同住一间房。被告共面对24项伤人罪，指她蓄意伤害陈来好，控方以其中8项提控，余项交由法官下判时考虑。陈来好患有严重失智症、糖尿病，被告是女雇主专门雇来照顾陈来好的。根据案情，去年6月23日下午2时24分左右，警方接获通报，指受害者遭被告又打又揍，并遭电眼拍下。法官：残忍又恶毒！完整报道，请翻阅22.01.2015《新明日报》

========================Updated in Jun 20141) Indonesian maid charged with socialite's murder, The New Paper, 23 Mar 2014She joined the family for only one week but murdered her employer. What kind of strong hatred could there be? Stressed? Home sick? Mental problem? Unsuitable or not prepared to accept a FDW job then why agency and MOM not doing anything to stop such 'good life/princess maid' to be recruited and flooding Spore? This kind of underaged (she is not yet 23 years old) and good life girl.... believe she didn't even need to lift her fingers to help her mother with chores, can only remain as mummy's baby and cannot work for anybody. You want to work, your mentality has to change. You fly here to work for a high salary, nobody employed you and promised you a rosy princess & stress-free life. 2) Maid murdered wheel-chair borne, The Straits Times, 21 Jan 2014Four days after an elderly woman was found dead at home, her Indonesian maid was charged with murder on Saturday. But the family of Madam Aandi Abdul Rahman Rasheeda Begam, 77, appeared shocked to hear from reporters that their maid had been charged.
Yati, 26, allegedly murdered Madam Aandi last Tuesday, some time between shortly after midnight and 11.33am, at the victim's flat in Serangoon North Avenue 4. The Sunday Times understands that the funeral was held and the family did not suspect foul play. The case was established as murder after police investigations and the results of a postmortem.
Indonesian Embassy counsellor Sukmo Yuwono told The Sunday Times that Yati was arrested last Friday and the police told him yesterday morning that she would be charged with murder. The embassy is hiring a lawyer for her. When reporters went to Madam Aandi's home yesterday, family members, who declined to be named, refused to believe that she might have been murdered.
"We didn't know about this at all, we were not told," said a teenage member of the family. The family declined to say more about the dead woman or the maid and what happened last week, and asked reporters to leave. Neighbours said Madam Aandi, who needed a wheelchair, had been living in the executive flat for close to 20 years. She shared the home with her son, his wife and their two sons and daughter.
Chinese evening daily Shin Min Daily News reported that Yati is from West Java and has been working in Singapore for 11/2 years. She is married with a one-year-old son. Last week, The Sunday Times reported that the Indonesian Embassy is calling for psychological testing of maids from the country before they arrive here.There have been at least 16 reported homicide cases here involving maids since 2002, and 12 of them are Indonesian.3) Reckless maid - life is child's playMaid falls to death trying to climb back into apartment, The New Paper, 19 Apr 2014She had locked herself out of her employer's apartment when she took out the garbage. Panicking because she was mid-way through preparing dinner, she went to a neighbour's unit and asked to be let in.Ms Mila, 29, did not make it. The domestic helper fell to her death at about 5.40pm yesterday at the Stadia condominium at Yio Chu Kang Road in Serangoon. Mr Choo Y. K., 47, who works in sales, told The New Paper that the Filipino helper had worked for his parents for three years. The elderly couple were not at home when it happened because they were out with Mr Choo's brother.He said: "We didn't know what happened until I reached at around 6pm. I saw the police tents and later heard someone mention my parents' unit number and I realised that it was our maid." He suspects she may have been worried because the frying pan had been left unattended.Mr Choo shook his head and said: "She was so silly. She should have called one of us instead. It is such a pity." The last they heard from the helper was in the afternoon, when she called Mr Choo's mother about preparing dinner. Mr Choo said he hopes the tragedy can serve to caution other helpers not to attempt such a risky move. ==============Cling on to dear life, The New Paper, 9 Jan 2014For more than 20 minutes, she hung on for her life - first on her own and then with her employer's help. The Indonesian maid was eventually rescued by police officers after they broke into the fifth-storey HDB flat at Queens Road near Farrer Road last Saturday.It is not known why she had climbed out of the kitchen window but it is believed she had been clinging on for several minutes before her female employer realised she was there. The employer grabbed the maid's wrists to prevent her from falling but was not strong enough to pull her up to safety. All they could do was wait for help to arrive.But when the police showed up about 20 minutes later, the employer did not dare to release her grip on the maid's hands to open the door. Witnesses told The New Paper that they saw police officers force open the metal gate and wooden door to enter the flat. Two police officers then pulled the maid back into the flat through the window.==============Runaway maid, AsiaOne, 22 May 2012A maid was found dead at the foot of an HDB block in Sembawang yesterday morning. Her employer, known as Madam Goh, told The Straits Times that she suspects that this is due to an attempt by her Myanmar maid to run away.The maid, 24, had fallen out of the 13th-storey flat's kitchen window and was found motionless at the foot of Block 421, Canberra Road at about 6.20am. She was declared dead on the scene by the paramedics. The maid had been working with Madam Goh's family for about two months, and was its second maid. Her duties included housework and taking care of Madam Goh's wheelchair-bound father. However, she was found to be defiant and did not follow instructions. Hence, her employer had already asked the agency to take her back. She then agreed to stay on until a replacement came.Madam Goh, who had woken up at 6am only to find the maid missing, said she didn't sense anything wrong before the incident. She related that the maid had even wished them good night before going to bed at about 10.30pm the night before. Saying the maid knew where the keys to the front door and gate were, Madam Goh said she would rather the maid had used the gate to run away, instead of the window.Safety is in maid's hand. Your employer is not your nanny or babysitter and have to constantly remind you what is dangerous. If you died, your family won't be able to touch or see you forever. When you're careless, your employer suffers monetary losses while your beloved family will lose you forever. Don't be so reckless and thoughtless. Spore is not a playground. If you're really badly treated, there are many people waiting to be your saviour and won't hesitate to pour shit on your employer. Help is either a phone call away or an unit away (neighbour). Please note that you can't fly like butterfly nor climb like a monkey. Please behave like a sensible human. Be responsible, take safety seriously!

==============Reckless Indonesian maid found dead, The New Paper, 16 Oct 2013When there was no breakfast ready as usual at 7am on Sunday, she knew something was wrong. So the employer went to check on her maid who had started working for her two weeks ago.
Ms Siti, 29, an Indonesian, was not in the room, her employer, who declined to be named, told Shin Min Daily News. But she spotted yellow cloth hanging out from the window of her fourth-storey Toa Payoh North flat.
Suspecting the worst, the woman went downstairs to investigate. There, she saw her maid's motionless body. It is not clear if she had fallen or the makeshift rope had given way.
The family declined to be interviewed when approached by The New Paper at their three-room flat on Sunday evening. A teary-eyed middle-aged woman requested for privacy and said she had not eaten for the whole day.
Shin Min reported that the incident took place early on Sunday morning. It is understood that the employers called the police. There was a (makeshift) rope near her made up of towels and blankets, and they were bloody too," said the housewife in her 50s, who declined to be named. Ms Siti's employer said she was treated kindly. She was expected to work from 6am to 9pm to look after their cancer-stricken elderly mother and perform household chores.
The family asked her to join them to watch television occasionally and the employer's sister also brought Ms Siti new shoes when she saw that the helper did not have many shoes.
According to the employer, Ms Siti had two children. Another neighbour, a 57-year-old retiree who wanted to be known only as Mr Chen, said that the family kept to themselves. He had seen the new maid once and described her as petite and dark. "If she wanted to leave, she should have just gone by the front door. They came to Singapore from a faraway place. It is such a pity," he said.There were previously many cases of Indonesian maids falling from high-rise windows. Panic button was pressed. Some said modern maids are too short. Some blamed it on exterior window cleaning. Thus, MOM dished out a new law, no exterior window cleaning, from 4 Jun 2012. The root problem is maids have attended safety class (SIP) before being employed but why they still take safety so lightly? Some Employers are worried that maid might get herself killed so had to do window cleaning as well as hang bamboo laundry themselves. Some lazy maids, although being supervised, will tell employers they are not required or qualified to clean windows or hang laundry. Any way, MOM is trying to tell us, our lives are not as important as maids. If you or your family fall, don't blame HDB for building unsafe flats. 4)Wounds on maid self-inflicted, The Star/Asia News Network Malaysia, 1 Mar 2014Post-mortem results show that the stab wounds and slit throat found on the maid involved in the murder of two half-brothers are self-inflicted.Initially, there had been speculation that a person close to the family had entered the house and killed the maid and the two boys. The police were trying to establish the motive for the double murder of Koay Jia Hong, five, and 18-month-old Melvin Selvam Joseph as well as the maid's suicide. "We believe she may have spoken to her friends about her situation and we need to talk to them in order to shed some light into the case," he said.It was reported yesterday that the police returned to the scene to retrieve the knives that were used in the murder-cum-suicide case. Initial investigations revealed that the maid, in her 30s, had slit Jia Hong's throat upstairs before killing the younger half-brother in the same manner on the ground floor near the kitchen.She then killed herself by slitting her own throat.5) Myanmar maid charged with murder of 85-year-old, The Straits Times, 8 Mar 2014A maid from Myanmar was charged on Wednesday with the murder of an 85-year-old Singaporean woman. Than Than Win, 24, is accused of killing Madam Yong Wan Lan some time between 4.05pm and 5.23pm on Tuesday.That day, police received a call at 5.23pm for assistance at Springdale Condominium in Hindhede Walk, off Upper Bukit Timah Road. Madam Yong was found motionless on the floor of her eighth-floor unit, with wounds on her upper body. She was pronounced dead by paramedics at 6.27pm.Madam Yong's family is believed to be Than Than Win's first employer since she was issued her work permit in March last year. The Straits Times understands that no one else was at home when the incident occurred.In January, Indonesian maid Yati, 26, was charged with murdering a 77-year-old wheelchair-bound woman, who was found dead in her Serangoon flat. Last November, Indonesian maid Tuti Aeliyah, 28, was charged with the murder of her employer's 16-year-old daughter. The victim was found with two fatal stab wounds in a bedroom of her Tampines home.

In November 2010, Indonesian maid Nurhayati, 16, pushed her employer's 12-year-old disabled daughter over the parapet wall from the 16th floor of their block of flats. She pleaded guilty to culpable homicide in October 2012 and was sentenced to 20 years in jail.6) Indonesian maid murdered 12-year-old special needs girl, 25 Nov 2010, AsiaOneAn Indonesian maid has been officially arrested for the murder of 12-year-old Linda Li Yi Ling. The 24-year-old maid (this is not her real age) who had been working for the girl's family will be charged with murder tomorrow. If convicted, she faces the death sentence.According to the Lianhe Wanbao, investigations are still ongoing as to which floor the deceased was thrown down from.Neighbours had told the Chinese evening daily that the maid had not worked very long for the family. She had been sent back to the maid agency before for unsatisfactory work performance. However, the family took her back after deciding to give her another chance.Linda, who only recently learned how to walk, was found dead at the foot of a HDB flat in Hougang yesterday morning. She lived with her parents on the fourth floor and studied at the Asian Women's Welfare Association's Special Needs School in Yio Chu Kang. Neighbours said that the girl was friendly, and liked to greet people, although her vocabulary was limited. She could say words like "papa", "mama", "hello" and "bye-bye". They would often see the maid bringing her to buy ice-cream from the neighbourhood's provision shop, and dinner from the nearby food centre.

The family is understood to have two maids who worked for them previously, with the last one working for the past three years. They have since left.

7) Man under maid's bed, The New Paper, 13 Sep 2013When she woke up at midnight on Monday night, the family dog was licking her legs. She got up and saw it running to the maid's room, sniffing and pawing at the door. Sensing something was amiss, she opened the door and saw a man underneath the maid's bed. The maid wasn't in the room."When I saw him, I was scared to death," said the 78-year-old woman, who wanted to be known only as Madam Rose, in Mandarin. She then called her son-in-law for help. Other than the maid, the only other person in the house was her 86-year-old husband, who is bedridden after two strokes.It turned out that the man was a foreigner, allegedly brought home by the family's Myanmar maid. The maid, who had been working for the family for six weeks, denied knowing the man, who is believed to be working near their Bukit Timah house.Madam Rose's son-in-law, who does not live with them, told The New Paper on Tuesday that he and his wife rushed to the scene. He recounted: "I quickly opened the door of the maid's room, shined a torchlight in and found him there." He then left the room and sought to keep the man in there. Using his body weight, he pushed against the door and called the police. On the other end, he felt the man pushing back and trying to force his way out of the room."I also heard him talking to someone in the room, I think, over his mobile phone. He may have been calling his friends for advice," the son-in-law said, describing the unknown man as about 1.75m tall. "I just caught him lying under the bed, I didn't know if he was armed. I wondered, 'Is he here to visit the maid or is he here to rob?'"In the meantime, his wife, who is a doctor, had to stabilise his father-in-law as he seemed about to go into shock. The son-in-law added that he was unsure how long it took before police arrived, as his main concern was to keep the struggling man in the room.When the police arrived, they asked him to come out of the room, said Madam Rose. "He knelt on my living room floor, crying and saying he was sorry," she said. After being questioned, the man was released. It is understood that no offence was committed.Yet about two weeks ago, a man who sounded like he was from Myanmar repeatedly called the house and Madam Rose's mobile phone, he said. The son-in-law recounted: "We confronted her about it and she begged us to let her stay, but this incident crossed the line." He added he informed the maid agency yesterday morning and the maid is now with the agency.He declined to name the agency as he did not want to hamper any resolution of the situation In the 20 years the family has employed maids, this was the first time such an incident has occurred, he said. He added that the family would have to get another maid to look after his father-in-law who suffered his second stroke in December last year. They are depending on home nursing for the time being.8) Added forbidden ingredientMaid put menstrual blood in Employer's drink, The New Paper, 25 May 2012A 24-year old Indonesian maid was yesterday charged with adding her menstrual blood into her employer's coffee cup. Jumiah allegedly committed this act of mischief with malicious intentions at about 6am on Aug 31 last year in her employer's Choa Chu Kang flat.She told the court that she intended to plead guilty. For the act, she could be jailed up to one year or be fined, or both.Maid jailed for trying to serve tainted water to employer, TODAY, 20 NovAn Indonesian domestic worker was sent to jail for four months for attempting to serve her former employer water laced with insecticide.On April 5, Pipih Sopiah, who was upset with her then-employer for scolding her, sprayed a cup of water with insecticide. She then rinsed the cup and refilled it before handing it to Ms Chong Bee San, 48.In mitigation, the 28-year-old accused said, through an interpreter, that she is a single mother and has a daughter to take care of.For acting rashly or negligently, which could endanger someone’s life or personal safety, Pipih could have been jailed up to six months and fined S$2,500Activists, are you keen to have this special concoction? If you felt eerie, how can you expect employers to tolerate and continue give chance to lousy FDWs? How can you assumed FDWs are nice and kind human beings, coming with the mentality to work well? Why none of you spared a thought, put yourself in unfortunate employer's shoes?9) Indonesian maid stole $12,600from elderly employer, AsiaOne, 23 May 2012 Over a period of five months, Ratna Muhammad, 34, an Indonesian maid, managed to steal a grand total of $12,600 from her employer.Between Oct 3, 2011 and March 22, she stole from her elderly employer, Madam Mah Puay Hoon, 86, on 72 occasions. The maid was guilty of five counts of theft of Madam Mah's ATM card as well as another five counts of stealing amounts up to $1,000 via unauthorised ATM withdrawals.The stolen money would then be remitted to her family in Indonesia. When the maid had followed Madam Mah to the ATM previously, she took the opportunity to memorise the ATM card's personal identification number.During the sentencing, another 134 charges of theft were taken into consideration. Ratna Muhammad was sentenced to jail for a total of 12 months.

10) Maid gets 4 years' jail for abusing disabled boy,New Straits Times Malaysia, 5 May 2012As a maid, 40-year-old Nanis Supardi was tasked with taking care of her employer's handicapped son, who is also bed-ridden. Instead of giving full attention to the 11-year-old boy, the Indonesian maid had abused the boy including stepping on his face, neck, chest and stomach.The mother of four also covered the victim's face with a piece of cloth before forcing the helpless boy to drink. Nanis' cruel acts were recorded on a closed-circuit television camera and she was yesterday sentenced to four years' jail after pleading guilty to abusing the boy at her employer's home in Kampung Batu Hitam between 6pm and 6.30pm on March 13.She was also sentenced to six months' jail after she pleaded guilty to overstaying as her social visit pass had expired on Feb 29. The woman, from East Java, was expressionless, when Sessions Court judge Noradidah Ahmad meted out the sentence, which was translated into Javanese by a court interpreter.When Noradida said her act was cruel as the victim could not even move, Nanis, only said that she khilaf (had made a mistake). Nanis was unrepresented, while deputy public prosecutor Hidayatul Syuhada Shamsudin prosecuted. In mitigation, Nanis pleaded for leniency as she had to support her children after she was divorced.However, Hidayatul had pressed for a stiffer penalty arguing that Nanis, being a mother herself, should not have been so cruel to a child. According to the facts, Nanis was hired barely a month before the incident, when she was alone with the victim. The victim's mother suspected something amiss when she realised that her son was very weak and immediately checked the CCTV recording when she returned from work on March 13.No matter what, protecting your child is of utmost importance. CCTV is your only proof. When you hire a maid, let her know there's CCTV. If she refused to work in such a house and retorted you're invading her privacy (I'm sure you won't install in the toilet), strike her off your list, she's not going to be a co-operative and good helper. Such maid seems to look for find opportunities to engage in personal things when you're not at home. Activists/Ministers/MOM won't side you just because child look like abused. Having CCTV will spread up the investigation process and end your ordeal earlier. CCTV is a deterrent. Not a device for you to see your FDW undressed, shower or her sleeping style.

11) Cherry picking maid, The Straits Times, 23 Mar 2014Ong Chin Meng: Recently, my family hired a Filipino maid to replace our previous one, who left after completing her contract. We interviewed the new maid twice over the phone and told her about the duties expected of her. She could clearly understand what we said as she asked several follow-up questions and assured us that she was willing to work for us.
However, after barely two weeks with us, she asked to be sent back to her agency. She told the agency she did not want to work for us anymore and demanded a transfer. Clearly, she was cherry-picking employers and wanted easier duties. There was little we could do. We had given the maid a loan to pay the placement fee. We also paid a huge sum to the agency to bring her to Singapore.
To ensure that we got our refund for the loan and for the agency to find us a replacement maid, we had to allow the transfer. The agency had few choices too. Since it had to refund us and cover the cost of the replacement maid, it had to ensure the maid continued working to pay off her loan. If she was sent home, the agency would suffer a loss.
My situation is not unique. A check on online forums will show that this is a common tactic used by maids. The law needs to be strengthened to protect employers. The practice of getting employers to give loans to maids to cover their placement fees should be banned.
Clamping down on the transfer market would encourage both employers and maids to work things out and fulfil their obligations to each other.12) A live-in thief but 'accepted'I copied this from a forum that banned me. Don't intend to put any hyperlink or screenshots. CarrotTree: Mum used to be very independent and domineering over everyone but after she became frail and weak recently we employed an experienced Indo maid to keep her company during the day and to take care of her. Just barely 4 months, mum seems to be so afraid to lose this maid and afraid of her. Although she knows the maid steals things from the household she is unwilling to expose her and even speaks up for the maid. This experienced maid is good is smart and good in doing housework. But she is dishonest and arrognant and shows face. Unwilling to accept instructions and even argues with mum especially when there is no one at home. Recenty also stole things from my house when maid and mum came to stay with my household for a few days. Mum even ask me to overlook this bad character on account that she needs the maid. I am in dilemma now. Is there a mental abuse or emotional abuse from maid such that mum seems so afraid to lose her. 12mum: Your mum is fragile but still mentally alert and the maid is already not behaving herself....send the maid away. Your mum should not be subjected to such sufferings. To live in fear for the rest of your life is inhuman.Get a new maid and if possible send both the maid and your mum to a day care centre. This is one option my family and I are looking at in the near future for my eldest sister when she is discharged from hospital. Our Last option is to put her in a private nursing home and do without the maid. buds: CarrotTree, the helper needs to be fired asap.There is no peace of mind for anyone in the house. The helper will be helping herself to even more, who knows, she may even come up with other antics, knowing no one dares to report her or send her back. I hope things will improve soon for your mother. I feel sad for you and your mother, to go through this horrid experience with this helper.POA: Explain to your mum that you will get a replacement maid.Your mum may be worried that she won't have a maid to be with her if you send this maid off. She may also be worried that you may resort to the alternative of sending her to a nursing home.

Winter: Not all employer can fire a maid whenever they fancy or instantly. There are a lot of things to consider, make adjustment and 'sacrifices', not forgetting a new cycle of recruitment & fees. Believe it or not, pay more but get lower work quality and purposely under perform maid is the current trend. We're at the mercy of FDW, agency, MOM and embassy.13) Maid's off daytrimummy: my ex-maid cooks curry chicken and rice to bring on her picnics with her friends and don't bother to ask me or inform me abt it. Even use my paper plates and cutlery! When I ask her how come my disposable plates and cutlery were all used up when there's no party at my place and she just act blur and say dunno. All the extra paper plates and cutlery I found it in a paper bag hidden in her room. She even wanted to bring the entire bottle of Ribena cordial out for her party but I think she forgotten cos she simply just left it hidden behind the fridge! I found it just 2 weeks before I decided to send her home. Aft seeing that, I knew I made the right decision to send her back.janet: maids get brainwashed when they have off days...they don't use their brains and have any sense of loyalty...just listen blindly they start having attitude problems, comparing their work with their 'friends' and steal. then they start having BGR problems as well.this maid i know cooks at home to bring lunch out and then comes home for dinner...sure knows how to sponge on employer.what i like about the idea of maids going out on off day is knowing how much it costs to buy lunch and dinner as well as taking transport using OWN money.sunset: dont give maid off day better, not even once a month. once you give them off day, its going to be real headaches, BGR, tempted to ask for more salary to meet their outing expenses, maid and maid conversation will be comparing salary, how many off days, how to fight for highest salary. My previous maid told me her friends told her to ask for salary $600 and every weekly off if she renew her contract.(In my heart, I was thinking she can jolly well pack her bag and leave my house). During off days, she will tell me her friend employer organised birthday parties and invited all the maids friends to her house, or her friend's birthday, employer give $$ to let her bring friends to hotel to eat buffet. Hmm, seem like hinting me i should give her a grand bdae party!Anyway i ask her to pack her bag 2 days before her birthday, that was my birthday gift to her! I took this Myanmar maid no off day, no marketing. Just stay at home. I find them better, they are like those olden batch of indonesia maid, listen to you, scare make mistakes. Of course, having a good maid also depend on luck.ScaredyMum: If my maid were to ask me if she can bring food to meet her friends on her off day, I will tell her, "Sure... U can buy from the coffee shop and hawker then bring lor!"Hwr, I do suspect that when she cooks lunch for my kids, she may have cooked extra and bring to share with the other helpers when waiting for kiddo to be released from school. Sometimes I find things like rice or eggs etc finishing faster, I will ask her why this round the rice/eggs etc finish so fast. I don't expect her to admit she cooked to share with friends but at least I give the message that I am well aware of things in my household and don't try to be funny.

janet: Bil's maid better still...sell off all the food stuff in the house to earn pocket money...at home, no off day. Maids may be humans, those looking after old people which I admit not easy especially if dementia cases. But when given off days, they listen blindly and come back with all the crap taught by their fellow countrymen. Seriously, our MOM should care more about us than giving maids too many rights. These maids assess the employers...calculative too..work too tough, they want to change employer. If don't get their way, they give employer hell until they get sent back to the agency. Then while looking for new employer sitting at agency doing nothing, present employer have to pay for living expenses for 2 weeks.

autumnbronze: My previous maid was in her thirties. She was a divorcee with a teenage DD. She would have 2 Sundays off a month. She would leave at 9am and return by 8pm. She was late most of the time but would call with some excuse. To my knowledge, she was short of money constantly and I gave her ang pow during Christmas cuz she was under loan and was going out on her off days.

She hung out at Orchard Towers. She drank. She had boyfriends. She had ringworm. I once found viagara pills in the drawer. She requested not to do any cooking and she skived in her housework. I had never seen so many cockroaches in my kitchen before she came.

MizzNAH: My ex-maid used to leave our house at 10 am after she completed the basic housework and returned by 7 pm. We sent her back when she got pregnant. She having affair with a foreign worker during her off day. My current maid is without off day and we compensate her.

She brought along the house key in case we are not back when she return. We don't check anything. Just a matter of trust and to ease us mentally.outandbound: we have had her for 9 months and she's been great apart from a few issues. We have 2 young children and she has been great with the 1st one less so with the second but no real issues. we give her time off when she requests, ie 2 evenings a week for a few hours then Sundays. She eats better than we do, she has a large spare room with AC, she chats on the phone to her friends when we are around. She's requested an advance nearly each month, which I usually accept, but this month she wanted another double her salary which I refused, due to the fact she has no money and sends everything home, oh and I find her irritating, ie no effort to speak English. My concern is that she is now talking quite badly to my wife's mother and family about us, thinking she is a friend rather than a meddling gossip. I feel she has stepped too far over the mark, twice now.

Winter: JA often leaves the house for her off with a hand carry bag and her sling or shoulder bag. I didn't check. So what I found she has helped herself to my things? It will sour the relationship and may make her take revenge on my girl. It is not that I trust her or she is doing well, I'm just too exhausted to watch here, watch there and add more headaches cum unhappy findings.... spoil my day. Ever since I became a special needs mum cum domestic maid's employer, my happy days aren't a lot. Purposely finding fault is not my cup of tea unless she did something too obvious, hard to miss. I have given JA a copy of my house rules so I hope she won't use forget/don't know as an excuse. If she tells me she's blind, can't see ....then I wouldn't have employed her. I'm not her mother, not my duty to keep reminding her the Dos and Donts. 自动自爱 少给我惹麻烦14) Facebook maid-thief, Straits Times, 4 Jun 2014A maid stole $6,300 worth of jewellery from her employer on her last day of work but was caught after photos of the loot she posted on Facebook came to her victim's attention.Filipino Evelyn Macaraya Clotario, 35, was sentenced to three months in jail on Wednesday after pleading guilty to stealing from 42-year-old Scalzi Barbara. Only about $2,000 of the loot - which included necklaces, bracelets and rings - was recovered as Clotario had remitted the rest back home. She worked for the Briton from Feb 21, 2012 to Jan 21 this year at the Flynn Park condominium along Yew Siang Road.In May, Ms Scalzi's friend told her about how her own maid had stolen a necklace and she only discovered the theft after checking the maid's Facebook page.

A search on Facebook would reveal the profile of a certain Clotario Evelyn based in Singapore. One photo showed four necklaces, three bracelets and six rings placed on a pillow with the caption, “Mao intawon ny naane sa pagkaud dri.” A rough translation of the phrase is “Ganyan and nakukuha/naaani sa pagtatatrabaho/pagsisipag dito (This is what you get from working).”Winter: When I read this, I was thinking should I post here? If I post, will more going-home maids do the same thing? Will FDWs start to use short or false name to create Facebook accounts so as not be be tracked or caught red-handed? Then I decided to post because maids are very clever (became cunning), they can still 'learn this skill' elsewhere. You don't want FDWs to turn bad (some employers reluctant to give off days), the more you restrict them, the more they want to break free. Thrilling? Rebellious? Greedy? Some employers would check their going-home FDWs' luggages but if bad FDWs want to steal, they can slowly pack the loot and pass to friends then meet up at home country... no bullet-proof method if a maid wants to be a live in thief. They are too clever and some felt their employers are rich, taking a little is alright!15) The Actressmokymok: I heard of a similar case from a relative of her "long-time" maid suddenly changing to bad work attitude and towards her and also wanted to send her home when her contract expires (soon). The reason which she found out suddenly thinking through is because she forgot the maid's birthday by giving her a birthday present like every other year ! (her hubby and kids actually wished her happy bday just that she forgot bcos she was caught up with work and happened to be overseas) She then gave her a belated bday present and apologized for forgeting her bday and then, asked she if she would like to continue working in her home and the maid "suddenly" went back to "normal".

I think they (maid) also want to feel like they are part of the family and that u remember the "little" things about them. Unless she thinks you can't live without her and start to "act big" then I agree, time to let her go...sunny_side: sometimes i find it very amazing that maids who have worked few years for an employer can suddenly 'change face'. I have heard many of such stories before and have told myself that cannot expect maid to be grateful to you even though u treat them nice. My maid worked for me 3 years liao so far still ok but i am prepared for the day when she suddenly will 'go crazy'. I mean, if you dun feel like working already, just say so la...no need to change attitude or chu pattern right. why cannot go off on a happy note for everyone. End of the day, no need to try to treat them like family. you will only make yourself unhappy at the end.wendysu: All the while maid's performance is good and as time goes by, we also become close of course there is bounds to be some line drawn when comes to work. However, ever since the past 3 months plus, her working attitude and bad performance had drove me to the limits. She began to talk loud to my kids, not fulfilling her duites, every time gave us a sulking or black face but when meet others, jokes and sweet smile. When we ask her to do things, she will show you a face like reluctant. Everytime forget this and that. Blah Blah Blah. In fact previously she already wanted to go back but we ask her to consider staying until my DS primary one. She agreed to stay.For the past years, i have been saying want to send her back, dunno how many hundred times but every time my heart will be soften, partly also become my kids very attached to her too and i can't imagine what will happen if there is a new maid. But this is the last time i will be tolerating her, i am going send her back. jeslin88: Indonesian maid-MUNAWAROH, passport no. AM697160, date of birth 22-1-1986, ex-permit no.006804233, period of work from 2-5-2009 to 26-7-2009. She was diagnosed with THALASSAEMIA- a hereditary blood disorder, when we brought her for full body check-up (it's the norm in our family to bring new maid for full check-up), so she tires easily, rests as early as 8pm, but we still give her another chance. She was employed to look after an bedridden elderly, housekeeping (4rm flat), very little cooking is done. For 1st 2 months, she pretends to be good, caring, obedient, diligent, thrifty (as in no wastage or throwing of food). All's well, we treat her like one of us, no stress, she says she wants go temple, we bring her. She prays, we never say anything. She likes stare into space, daydreams. We noticed she seems a bit weird since 2nd week she's with us, inform agent, checked and said nothing's wrong, no problem with her. But beginning of 3rd month, she starts get lazy, wake up 5am, but never do anything till 7am. Takes more than half day to wash 2 toilets, sweep and mop floor, use washing machine wash and hang clothes, cook a small pot of porridge for Ah-ma, no cooking of lunch. When it's time to cook dinner, she'll look for an excuse do other things-like ironing, sweep or mop floor. Also she starts throw and waste food, on diet, always saying she's full whenever it's mealtime; self-centered; proud (look down on her own fellow country maids); unhygienic; selfish; superstitious (don't want go out when it's dark, praying more often); no manners; bad body language; a liar (accuses we treat her no good); temperamental (she'll take her pillow and blanket sleep in living room whenever she's unhappy, or show us her temper); uncaring towards Ah-ma. Sais she only got 'power' do work in afternoon which is untrue; don't or can't accept any opinions when voiced out to her; stubborn; no put in more effort learn or do things (still don't know how change Ah-ma's diaper, ever change once but no good, since then no change or learn); think she's a VIP maid, already do very well. Never once did we raise our voice talk or scold her, yet she's still unhappy, ask her, she said nothing's wrong, happy. Finally we brought her back to agent let her relax for few days, ask agent try find out what's wrong so we can help and understand her more. But the very next day, we decided not take her back as we found notes she's written, which upon translation, it's suicidal, saying she wants to be with her God, her devotion with God, she's not owned by anyone, not even her boyfriend. Also we discovered that all this time while we trust her, never check her work, her housekeeping is in a mess, all done in a sluggish manner, she only pretends to work.16) The liarlovebear: Maids are maids, and they usually are very 无情. Money is the motivator for them to treat you with respect or care.When I was very young, I had a maid who cared for me from birth to when I was in P2. I was very attached to her because I see her more than my parents. When she decide to leave at the end of her contract, I emptied my savings (about $3k) and gave them to her (without my parents' knowledge), my sibling also did the same. We treated her like a family. My mom even bought her jewellery (四点金) worth more than $8k as she claimed she is going home to get married and start a family.

About 6 months later, when we were out at the malls with my parents, we saw her with her new ang mo employer. My mom asked her why she didn't contact us if she needed a job and she snapped and asked my mom if we can afford her! Said her current employer pays her 2x more than when she was with us and she is entitled to weekly day offs (which we used to compensate her with cash).deon: Prihatini Sugianto DOB 20 April 1980 from Indonesia. Got her as a transfer maid but have sent her back after 1 mth with us. She was with previous employer for 3 months. She's a terrible liar (very good liar to be precise as she can spin stories that are quite convincing) and will fake fainting spells. Worst of all, despite being a mother herself, she can't take care of children.

hz47: Yati Karyati Kamal, DOB 24/02/1977 and the passport number S957941. She was temperamental and refused to work when she was in a bad mood. She took it for granted that she was entitled to half of the fruit we bought even though including her, there were four in the family. She habitually broke things and never admitted it was her own fault. She agreed to 2 off days a month after my giving birth and in return, we allowed her to take all public holidays off before that. Then she quit after my birth, without giving even one day's advance notice to us, the people who threw her a party on her birthday in addition to giving her a 100$ red pocket.

bboy: Faingason Rosela Sarsua, DOB: 18 June 1980

Rosela worked for about 6 months. housework's not heavy as she dont have to cook, dont have to bath kids, dont have to put kids to sleep and dont have to take care kids at night. basically very simple housework of washing and cleaning. take care of kids less than 5 hrs add on per day. im her no.2 employer in Singapore. she was with another employer for less than 1 week as she said she was not given enough food. her problems with us:

- keep asking for hp and offday after 1 month work.

- love to compare us with her past employer in oth country (dubai if im not wrong)

- she will talk back. never admit mistake. never apologize. never say sorry to us.

- washing not clean. clothing always put not in the right place. when we asked her, she said have already put all in right place.

- verbally abuse kids. said kids lazy and monkey talk. dont like to take care of kids. no carring twds kids.

- she will lie without blink eyes.

- she is DIRTY. her wardrobe left expired food and paper candy (found out only aft sent her back agent)

- she takes 1 hrs to throw recycle thing to the downstair. when we asked her nicely did anything happened and she just said no.

This maid is always not consistent in her talking. This maid does not honor her words. She always twists her words. Maid knew we depend on her. She threatened us many times starting work that she wants to quit on employers whenever she likes. As her employers, we are very fed up of her.

start to show unhappy face and said i lazy never take care of kids to agent when we sent her back. Stolen money and lie the most reasons why we sent her back agent.

was told by agent iloilo village area so we thought must be quite obedient but in fact NO. Rosela said come sg work no training was given to her so she knew nothing abt sg here. she said last time another country training 1 mth. employer super good to her. she also said last time she only took care of 1 bb and no housework. my husband said to her "your salary 4xx and you expect to do little things?" she replied 4xx is not much. she do a lot of things compare to her last employer. she loves so much to compare to her last employer.

musicbox: Last time my ex-maid also told me her friends can go back home after been transferred a few times, no need pay back her loan, this worry me as it seem they can purposely do wrong so that can be sent home, but after asking my agent, my agent said they're just making up the stories, when u asked them who is their friends, they cannot name. my ex-maid also told me her friend's employer allowed the friend to go home for 2 weeks even though the friend just came SG for a month, the employer let her friend go home visit family first before starting work, now think of it, all bullshit, which employer so good to let the maid go home first before starting work?

Btw I believe many mummies don't have the choice not to let the kids stay at home with maid, especially those who cannot depends on parents in law. Imagine those earning just enough to feed the family, dual income is a must, infant care centre can cost $1000 after subsidy, so I believe if there's a choice, no one would want to hire maid and let the children be with them.

findwenz: Siti Manissah from Indonesia whom is an ex SG Maid. Previously, on the 25.04.12, She was brought to my home. Before hand I had told her that upon the loan completed (which is 8 months for her) you could have a hand-phone to use as now learning in a new environment need to be focus. I even brought her calling cards for her to call back to her family not to worry.Case 1: Money (Included my daughter’s piggy monies starting to get lesser) and Landline usage getting higher and higher. My Chanel Makeup seems getting low,Clothing have funny smell and even once my whole home smell stale.Case 2: On Sept 1st 2012, My Hubby Spare Nokia Mobile Phone and Home Keys left in the car was lost and when we asked her did you see the HP (She is the only one cleaning the car) reply "Mum I didn't see Sir HP and I don't know!On the 18.09.2012 at 11:15pm, after work and wanted to take a look at my gals in their room. When I open the doors, I saw Siti cover her face with a pillow and mobile light appear. She was Shocked! And use another pillows covers the mobile phone.In the middle of the Night 3am; I walk into my gals’ room. To my surprise, TA DA! I found my hubby’s missing mobile hand phone was on her bed while all of them are sleeping soundly in the room. I took the phone and walk out in silent mode. I walk towards my bedroom and told my hubby “ Babi I found your handphone, He was like half sleep and half awake says “HUH? Where you find?” I was behaving like a kid that found the treasure hunt map. “ It’s with Siti along…!” Hubby told me “ Jai Luck, like that” And “What you going to do with her?”, I asked. He replied “ Let me sleep tomorrow morning we discuss”.I walk towards my living Room and started to explore the phone.“ Woolalala…juicy news” at that very moment I seem like a paparazzi digging news. I browse through the phone.I saw a SMS ON 15.9.12 at 4:47:22am “ Darling I come already”Another SMS 15.9.12 at 4:49:25am “Darling come faster lah”Siti send SMS on 15.09.2012 to “A Guy” at 5:22:34am “ Darling sory today I am ca’nt meet u. becos my bos sleeping outside the lving room.” Follow by a call on the mobile to “A Guy” on 15.09.2012 at 6:55am. After reading the 240 inbox, 179 Sent SMS from 3 different men in SG, One from Indonesian and mixed of maids SMS in broken Indonesian languages. I walk back to my room and told my Hubby She have men outside; he told me we have to send her back and falls back to sleep. I was planning my mind how to trick her and show her tailI simply kept it in my bag for the past 2 days. She was calling and asking all others to call her mobile phone and even use home phone to call to search for it.I went home with ignorance and walk towards Kitchen to get a cup of water. Siti walks towards and asked “ MUM DID U TAKE SIR HANDPHONE??? In my mind, I was like “What the F*** are you talking about. You are a wolf in sheep’s skin still dare to asked me?” I told her like “What Hand phone and whose Hand phone ??”Siti kept quiet for a moment and told me innocently “Mum, I found under the car on the 14.9.12.I didn’t take Sir’s Hand phone. I only borrow” My reply: “Did you asked Sir for Permission?” She says NO.

To my horrid, she been posting in Facebook wearing my 12 Yrs Old daughter’s clothes and she has BO. She worn the clothes and put back without washing. I was boiling with anger and print screen all her photos with comment and print out. She didn't know that I found out her Face book. Next Day, we arrived at the agency. I talk to the agent in a room and show him all the evidence. The agent called her in and questions her, She kept deny that it wasn’t her fault and her friend instruct her this and that. And I told the agent “ I can’t continue listening to her, She is telling lies without blinking her eyes.”aquamarineac: i have recently just sent back my helper who has 15 years of experience in Singapore immediately due to her attitude after 3 months of employment. She is very rude and always has tons on excuse when we asked her somethings. Although she do not steal but she likes to tell lies and show off.After these few encounters, we called the agent and told the agent that if she do not change her attitude, we will not want her to work for us anymore. When agent asked her why she turned herself around and do not looked at her employer when the employer is talking to her, she argued with the agent that she was scared and worried that the employer would picked up a tupperware and hit her. When the agent told me this, I was very angry. Luckily is that I have cameras installed at my home and were recording 24hrs/7days. I told the agent that I have evidence to prove that she is telling lies.Fatimah Karna, Work Permit: 0 01109111, Indonesianbabyys: I have a bad maid from Indon. She run away in Jan 2013. Sutinah, Work permit: 0 07904355She said she want to go back to agent after 1 week because she said she cannot take care of baby. I ask her to wait for replacement maid then I will release her but she run away after 1 month. Before we employ her, the agent highly recommended her and she also say yes to all tasks that we will assign for her during interview. After we paid the agent fee, paid for her loan and problems start to come. She is not as bad as other maids posted here but she is not honest and careless. She broke my utensil during 1st day and broke my daugther toy which cost more than $100. I also keep quite.My 3 yrs old daugther injured 3 times under her care. 1st time is my daughter neck hit the corner of table at coffee shop. 2nd time is my daughter fall down and hit the glass table top caused ear bleeding. 3rd time is her thumb was clamped at door hinge and the maid tried to close my daughter mouth and not to let her cry. My daughter is playful but all these accidents never happen before under our own care and my 1st maid care.Very fast, I think 3 days later got somebody employed her. I had made a police report on the day she run away but MOM still renewed this kind of maid permit. I have paid the maid agent fee $1388 and till now no replacement, the placement fee still never return to us. The agent said if we want to get back the placement fee, we need to pay $500+ contract termination fee. We get lousy maid, lousy service, get troubles, loss money and again the maid agent can make money from new employer who employed the runaway maid and also additional fee from the maid. I ask the agent, what is their liability, he say basically no liability.What kind of system is this? Only making money? I thought we are the customer? Obviously the agent and the maid had cheated us and started all the troubles. If they don't lie to me, I won't pay the fee and sign stupid and unfair contract. Can I get back all my money or even agent fee from small claim court? Or just blow up this matter to media, let whole Singapore know and alert more people about bad maid and bad agent?

maid_issue: After my mother in-law left, my maid (Name: Asedilla lee jane genilla, WP NO: 026180295) started troubling me. 1. she hurt my 1 1/2 year baby ,I saw lot of scratches on the body with blood marks, I ask her what happened, answer I DON’T KNOW. 2. She miss use the phone, I ask why land number engaged for long time, answer “I DON’T KNOW”, 3. Keep telling lies, she is not honest and plays always cheap tricks and always tells lies. 4. I found my money and baby gold bracelet missing in my absence, if i find missing something, the only answer she knew is I DON’T KNOW. Throughout this period I suffered a lot, Every time she ask for transfer she told so many reasons, for the first time she told my first kid(who is 4 ½ years old) is doing some funny things that’s what she need a transfer. I took her to the agency and let them talk to her, after comes back she said something happened to her brain and now ok to continue. She starts stealing valuables (gold bracelet of my 1 ½ years old boy which is 12 grams) at home and she makes sure it won’t get found in her luggage. She might have passed to her friends while she drop/fetch my daughter from the school. I search her luggage in her presence found some naked photos of her, god only knows what the hell she does while she go for day off.

meowmeow1234: CARCASITAS ROSE GARDOCE, Work Permit#: WP#: 0 26552109 I have a bad maid here. I interviewed her face to face at agency. She told me she really need a job and able to take hardship and need monies for her sons in philippines for schooling. She told me she is single parent not marry. Her mother died not long ago in Apr 2013, sister take care of her sons while here, both sons aged 12 & 13. The terms & conditions i want her to work is all stated clearly & explained thrice or more times to her; she agreed. Nightmare came after she got her first salary. Day in day out keep asking her salary, everyday want to use HP despite no value, bluff my mum to let her use our home phone to call, waste food, throw away food that she don't like and bluff said she ate (my mum found inside dust bin), everyday telling my mum she has this she has that to buy, she need this she need that, just to escape out. She mentioned her sister work here everyday HP, everyday can go out, her friends frequently go Lucky Plaza.

Trisha26: I also have a bad maid currently at home. She worked for a Filipino family for almost three years. She told me she was very close to her former employer. She said she'd buy her almost everything she needs. She also told me that they did not have a problem. Later on, a friend of mine introduced me to her ex employer. The employer told me that all the maid said were all a lie. That she was such a big headache during her employment with her. And that she got terminated right after the second year. My problem with her started about three weeks after she started. During her off day, she'll come back so late. Past 11pm. Sometimes, she comes home drunk. Sometimes, she comes home past midnight. I talked to her and told her if she can come home at least 9pm because the next day is school day. But she only followed for three weeks then came home again at 10:30pm onwards.

berlin: Maria Sandra Pael Gerona, Work Permit: 0 25580869 (Winter: take note that all FDW's work permit number won't change no matter how many passports she had and how many employers she had. If she returns with a fake name, new ID so new WP, you can't track)

Kindly check on MOM website she already had 5 employers within 1.5years (none of them lasting 6months). We're a small family , a couple with 1yr old toddler. No pets, no inlaws. She was a transfer maid. She was good during her 1st month. She started showing her true colors during her second month. We're 1st time employer, kept giving her so many chances till we gave up. Thought that a 39yr old mother would be a mature good maid. She's not only forgetful, super lazy, very cunning, always telling lies, taking our things to bar trade with other maids, gossiping, ungrateful.

17) The abuser

michelle_wei: My maid has worked 4 months only. She is a terrible Fillipino maid. I am a mum with Avascular Neucrosis and have both my hips replacement immediately after I gave birth to my daughter. Because of my pregnancy I lost my hips. I am not able to take care of my children with this medical condition as doctor advises against kneeling , squatting , carrying a child or heavy objects and showering my child.

I have no choice but to employ maids , however most of my maids are not keen in working. They are all liars, after getting their work permit, they wanted a transfer to find household jobs or looking after old people. Though job scope is looking after my 2 children during their interview they say yes to everything but once they have their work permit, they hit my child to force me to sack her.

My this current 29 year old Fillipino maid is worse. When first come, we already told her that my 2 young children are very playful so anything just tell me and cannot hit them . But my 2 and a half year old daughter was hit at the knees there until she cannot walk that day. When I confronted her, she said, Cannot hit ar, I want to hit I hit . When I say her again, she say, Only one time only, what is the big deal, go your embassy lah.

She is vain and hussy though not pretty , always smiling at man outside, but at my home always showing a black face to me and my children. She is married with 3 children. She even sarcastically told me, If you don't like me, sack me , I packed my suitcase already.

joop_811: JESSICA ALAURIN PANGILINAN, Work Permit: 026396379. For this one, everyone needs to be extremely careful. Very smart, very sharp and very conniving. She will even plot to get your husband. She will comment on your husband, "Sir is so quiet.. why doesn't talk to me ah?" When we installed CCTV, she will take down every downlight to see if we have other pinhole cameras. She will hit your child and leave no marks. Slapping their butts so hard while they are in diapers. Of course, some may say, no harm done since no marks. But who the hell is she to slap my daughter's butt??? And the reason for the slap was so that my daughter will leave her alone to sms in the day time. My daughter just turned 1 year old. She of course can't speak and she cannot walk either. When Jessica wants to touch and do nothing, she will command that my daughter sits there quietly beside her. If my daughter crawls away, she will be pulled back by her romper. If my daughter doesn't listen, she will raise my daughter in the air and slam her down on her butt.

After we sent her back, I told her husband, "your wife has an affair". Next day, Jessica questioned me, "Y u need to do this. I have 3 children."For now, my purpose of sharing is to warn everyone of these merciless maids. they do not deserve sympathy. They do not deserve respect if they do not even respect themselves. All of them are like super "high-class". They will put on the most pitiful look... They want handphones and are often not satisfied with just one. They want one each from each boyfriends and keep another one for husband and children. In this way, it is easier for them to decide who to answer and who to ignore. They want connectivity to the Internet. They want to use FB. They want the world. I always tell them during interviews, "think carefully before you agree to work for me. Being a maid is not easy. You have to be mentally prepared to work." Of course, all will nod their heads in eagerness. Let's reserve our sympathy for more deserving people.

Harmony: Catherine Vizco Padillo, Work Permit No: 0 2498035The maid insisted I pay for her taxi fares for her personal use during her rest day on Sunday Nov 17 2013, she also added that she is just trying her luck as most of her friends say she is not entitled to such a thing. When I returned home from work on the following day, the FDW spoke to me of the recent Tampines murder of the maid killing the employer’s child, and added this is all because the employer was not good to the FDW. She further continued that there was also a case where a Filipino maid drowned the employer’s 2 young kids “by mistake.” I have 2 young kids aged 2 and 5 and it was an insinuated threat. I was told on Dec 7 2013, that the maid’s mother is severely ill and cannot take care of her children (who are 20, 19, and 11 year old all very self sufficient ages) she needs to go back immediately. I offered to send her back and wait for her until she returns. She has advised us that she does not intend to return to Singapore again to work (which is a complete lie). Despite the fact that she has received an advanced salary all the way until the end of December 2013, within one week I booked her a flight home on the 26 December, 2013. When I communicated this flight booking, she started screaming shouting and kicking, demanding why is the flight not booked before Christmas and threatened us that she CAN and WILL runaway. She further continued shouting that she will kill herself and be sent back to the Philippines dead or alive.From my terrifying experiences I have shared I hope I can help and prevent other families with similar situations as us from being psychologically abused.SGMommynow: Jorgea Bayron Caliao, Passport No.: EB5050324, DOB: 27/07/1967It was a very fresh and recent event that I only happen to found out about her very rude conduct and mistreated to our 2 year old child. I am still in shock and trauma until now as she was very fierce and we had a very bad confrontation to the point of pushing her away to leave the house and deport her, (back to Philippines). what happened was, i left the house and didn't inform her whether i will take a while. then 2 hours later, when i reached home, i caught her, screaming really loud at my daughter who was crying in front of her. (i would think its normal that a child cries when she wakes up from her afternoon nap.) but Being her nanny, and as a mother also ( note: she was a mother of 4), you know that its normal right?, to my horror, as i hid myself next to our flat's gate, she kept on screaming loudly and scolding my daughter for crying, the nanny was throwing her toys, provoking the child to cry some more, teasing like a crazy woman, bullying the poor little toddler. As i couldn't take it anymore, and thought that she might hurt the child, I showed up, and suddenly? she toned down her voice and letting the child calm down. it was a 360 degree turn of voice. what the hell?!? so i confronted her and she denied and we started arguing, and she blew her top too, she started recalling that she just wasted our time for us! in the first place, you do not have the right to should/scold/scream at my daughter. nobody is! she was a mother too! she should know!

She is very choosy of her coffee. She wanted nescafe 3in1 only and never never run out of it in the kitchen, or else, she will ignore you just like her enemy and will never listen to your commands. I bought her Old Town coffee and she ignored it and when we did groceries. she picked up another pack of nescafe. wow! she must be a rich girl back in her town!

She takes pictures of everything that is not in order in our house, FOR WHAT??? my brother caught her recently. when he asked her why? she said : Im tried of your brother in law (my husband, her boss), everytime he uses the bidet in the toilet he never hangs it correctly! WHOAH!! really crazy!!! She has intentions of getting "proofs" against us.

She owes my siblings money and asks them that she will repay by washing their clothes. Before Hiring her she was fully aware that she will be doing an all round Helper/nanny/maid!. This is extortion.

We trusted her, we helped her during bad times, even gave donation when her father died, celebrated her bdays, allow her to her errands even though it is not her restday, gave her a room, a bed and not just a covered space, treated her right like a family, even let her go home after 1 year from her 2 yrs contract (this means paying for a home leave clearance for additional $300, yes, she didn't asked for it but we were very nice and as a parent too, the feeling of being away from your family is really hard. and let her see her child for approx 2 weeks, when we all went back to the Philippines to celebrate my daughter's bday. free of air tickets and even loaned to us a month of her salary as her pocket money. all this? She was very lucky as my coworkers and mommy colleagues would say. but what we didn't knew, she was backstabbing us.

yuna_chan: Sugiyanti, WP No.: 0 06034659

When she first joined our family to look after my in-law's granny, we thought she was a very caring and considerate person. She did her household chores very well and she was very fast and efficient. The best part was everybody in the family liked her. She was very conversational and her English was very good for an Indonesian.

It appeared that things were too good to be true. Things started to happen when granny was alone with her during the daytime.

1. Granny had a bad fall which fractured her hip. She couldn't be operated due to her old age and had to rely on painkiller forever!

2. Granny started getting bruises on her forearm. When asked what happened, she said she don't know.

3. Doctor diagnosed that granny was malnutrition. If granny refused to take dinner, she will only get to eat the following day during breakfast.

4. Granny fell and had a deep cut on her head when she brought granny out.

5. Granny had a deep cut on her left arm during shower.

5. Granny had another cut on her right arm when the arm got caught in the wheelchair.

A domestic helper who placed a heated iron steamer on the back of a two-year-old boy was on Friday sentenced to 15 months' jail.

The 31-year-old Indonesian maid and victim cannot be named due to a gag order. The incident happened in August this year at a unit in Woodlands Drive. At that time, the child was staying with his aunt as his parents had been admitted to the drug rehabilitation centre.

The victim, his brother and the maid were alone in the flat. Court documents state that the boy was crying and asking the maid for biscuits when she burnt him with the hot iron steamer. She applied ointment on the burn marks and threw away the boy's singlet to get rid of evidence.

The maid faced another charge of causing hurt by using her mobile phone to hit the boy's head, pulling his hair and kicking his waist. This was taken into account during sentencing. In mitigation, the maid told the court her parents, who are in Indonesia, are very old and she has to take care of them. She added that she has to support her two children.

Winter: See what I mean by being lenient to maids in Spore.If this boy is your son, don't you feel heartache and wanted a harsh punishment for the abuser? This maid had a mobile and used it to hit the boy. This is why most employer doesn't want maid to hold 24/7 mobile - distracted, no heart to work well, ignore day duties and slack.You have parents and children to support ... so? A good excuse to hurt somebody else's child, get away and receive a light sentence?

DESPERATE to return home, she spun a tall tale that her employer's mother had abused her.

Filipino maid Ronalyn Espiritu Reintegrado, 31, even had the "injuries" to show for it. And she maintained her accusation even when told by police that Madam Ng Gek Hong, 69, was not home at that time.

But when she was shown Madam Ng's ez-link card transaction records showing that she had taken a bus and left the flat about an hour before the alleged assault, Reintegrado broke down and admitted that she had lied.

Yesterday, she pleaded guilty and was jailed eight weeks on one count of giving false information to a public servant.

Each time my husband and I consider hiring a maid, something happens and we take a step back, again. Just two weeks ago, we discussed if it was more cost-effective to get a maid to cope with the housework and meal preparation for our kids instead of depending on a part-time cleaner and dining out. Then came the news about two weeks ago that a 23-year-old Indonesian had fallen 30 storeys to her death at Telok Blangah Heights.

That makes six deaths in the first three months this year alone. One is already too many. And it's worrying. But can Singaporean families live without the extra pair of hands?

Madam Lai Kiat Yee, 58, who sees maids tagging behind their "mums" and "sirs" and feeding the children, sometimes wonders if the parents do any parenting at all. Or do they leave everything to the maids and become only part-time parents? Like her own daughter, who has a four-year-old son and a seven-month-old baby. Madam Lai, who sells claypot noodles at the Beach Road hawker centre, says in Cantonese: "My daughter and her husband have to work shifts and they don't have a choice."

Not that it's an unusual situation for many young families, with both husband and wife having to work. Mr Chia Bin Hao, 69, who runs a coffee stall in Toa Payoh, is able to empathise because all his five married children have a maid each. "You don't feel it until we come together for a family meal; that's when we go 'Wah our maids make up half a table (of 10)'," jokes the grandfather to 13 grandchildren aged two months to 17 years.

With the spotlight on maids again this week, insurance manager Susan Phoon wants to know what she can do to prevent a tragedy.

Mrs Phoon, 45, has a pair of one-year-old twins and depends on her Filipino maid to take care of them. Her Indonesian maid takes care of Mrs Phoon's bedridden mother-in-law and does the housework. "It's virtually impossible to cope on our own, with both my husband (who runs a renovation business) and I working," she says.

This week, the Ministry of Manpower has reminded employers and the public to proactively ensure that their maids are not placed in a position where their safety is jeopardised. Between 2007 and 2011, 24 maids died after falling from a height while they were cleaning windows or hanging laundry.

There were 45 non-fatal falls in the same period. Madam Yip Cui Ing, 50, a butcher, feels that it's unfair to put the blame on employers. She says in Mandarin: "It's always sad to read the news that another maid has died while cleaning windows in high-rise homes. "But frankly, some of those with maids will tell you how they just don't listen to instructions despite the constant reminders."

Mr Henry Quah, a retiree, 70, agrees. He lives with his son and daughter-in-law and their three children, eight, 10 and 13. They have an Indonesian maid. Says Mr Quah: "My daughter-in-law carefully trains our maid and keeps reminding her about safety rules. "Yet there have been so many occasions that we've caught her standing on a stool while she's cleaning, with the window grilles open." He adds: "Once, I even caught the maid leaning out of the window. My heart nearly jumped out." I can understand how Mr Quah feels.

It's easy for those who don't have a maid to pin the blame on employers whenever something goes wrong. Or to be quick to suggest rolling out all kinds of bans or penalties. While I agree that the onus is on the employers to train their maids properly, what about the employment agents here and back in the maids' home towns?

And the maids must take responsibility for their own safety too.

It's only then that we can avert any potential tragedies.

Read: Safety: Onus is on employersIf there is no safe way to clean window exteriors, then the maids should not be asked to do it.When hanging laundry: There should not be too much clothing on the pole The heavier clothing should be closer to the maid. Lighter clothes can be on the far end of the pole MOM will take action against employers who are negligent or who disregard the safety of their maids.Under the law, employers should ensure that maids perform their duties in a way which does not endanger her life or personal safety and is in accordance with the work practices stipulated by MOM in its training course and safety materials.

Dr John Heng said it's not a good idea for Mr Rozaimi Zainal to catch the maid who fell from the 14th storey. Mr Rozaimi was unable to save the maid due to the impact of her fall, there’s no doubt that his attempt was both brave and laudable. Especially since he’s declared in interviews that he’d put his life on the line again should he be placed in a similar situation. “As a human being, as a fellow person, it is my duty to at least try to save another person’s life.”This, despite the fact that he has had to go through three operations, shattered all his bones in his left leg, and will be hospitalized for at least the next six weeks.According to multiple expert opinions, the force of an object falling at a similar velocity is so great that Mr Rozaimi is considered lucky to be alive! Unfortunately, that’s just one out of the many problems he’ll need to worry about.Beyond the road to physical recovery, he might possibly also need to relook his employability as a result of his injuries. His current duties as a cleaning supervisor require him to spend long hours on his feet, doing his rounds for inspections and maintenance, as well as ensuring the estate he oversees is in running order. While there are no official statements issued as to whether he will sustain any long-term damage to his left leg, there is always the possibility that he doesn’t regain the mobility and nimbleness he used to enjoy in his pre-injury days.Sadly, this might affect his ability to commit a 100% to his duties at work. And what about the lost income during his hospitalisation period? Under the Ministry of Manpower’s sick leave entitlement, Mr Rozaimi is eligible for paid hospitalisation leave up to a maximum of 60 days if he has completed at least six months of service with his employer, Starlike Maintenance Services.

So technically speaking, if all goes well, he will not suffer any loss in income as he is covered by the Employment Act. However, if his hospitalisation period extends beyond what he was originally expecting and over and beyond the 60 days, then his employer has no legal obligation to disburse any salary.

Winter: Media didn't cover news on how that maid fell to her death and why. It seemed to me, maid tried to commit suicide but accidentally got a superhero involved. Since there's no bad employer involved and not related to window cleaning accident, there's no media coverage because media/activists has no chance to shade the employers black!